A Sealed Memory
by jbriz
Summary: How could I have forgotten my first real friend? How could I have forgotten the day, many years ago when I met a boy who actually complimented me for once instead of mocking my forehead? How could I have forgotten him after we grew so close together? It was just a dream after all…or was it? FULL SUMMERY INSIDE. Main pairing: NaruSaku, others to follow
1. The Broken Seal

**A/N: While I did not originally wish to have a third story to work on (already have 2 active), this is one of those ideas that I did not simply want to shelve or push aside, so I decided I might as well go against my wishes and start a third. While my other two stories are Naru/Hina, this one will be Naru/Saku. So, please let me know how the first chapter turned out.**

**Summary: **How could I have forgotten my first real friend? How could I have forgotten the day, many years ago when I met a boy who actually complimented me for once instead of mocking my forehead? How could I have forgotten him after we grew so close together? It was just a dream after all…or was it?

Sakura had always liked Naruto, ever since they met one day before the academy. However, some people were not too happy with her new friend and sealed away her memories of her childhood friendship and crush. What happens when Naruto returns from the failed attempt at retrieving Sasuke, on the verge of death? Starts just after the Valley of the End.

**Pairings:** Naru/Saku (main pairing and no harem); Ino/Cho or Sai (still undecided on that); Kiba/Hina; Shika/Tema; Neji/Ten

**Raiting: **M for violence, language, mature references, and eventual lemons

**Bashing**: Will contain council, Sasuke, Orochimaru, and others (if I feel they truly deserve it) bashing

**Disclaimer: Sorry, I'm not Masashi Kishimoto; therefore, I don't own Naruto**

***While I don't mind constructive criticism, please no flaming! If you don't like, don't read.**

***Jutsu names will be in the Japanese spelling with English translations following. If it is a non-cannon jutsu, I will provide an explanation at the end**

Normal speech; _Normal thought_

**Demonic Speach/Summon Speech/Inner Sakura/Pissed off Tsunade; _Demonic Thought/Summon Thought/Inner Sakura_**

Posted: 4/23/13

* * *

**Chapter 1: Breaking the Seal**

Night had fallen upon the streets of Konohagakure no Sato and despite the tragedy that had befallen this Village Hidden in the Leaves, the city was dead quiet. Most people had gone to sleep, hoping for good news the following morning. However, one pink-haired girl found a sense of insomnia drift over her as she found that despite her heavy eyes, she was unable to close them, a myriad of thoughts swirling through her head.

Just the last night, Uchiha Sasuke had left the village to join with the traitorous snake sannin, Orochimaru, who wanted Sasuke for nothing more than his body. You know, thinking about it like that really did make Orochimaru sound like some sort of pedophile, but that's not the point here. Only last night, she had professed her love to said Uchiha, only for him to knock her out and leave her in the cold night air while he silently left the village.

The following morning, a retrieval squad of four genin and a newly minted chunin was assembled to track down Orochimaru's team of four who had been sent to collect Orochimaru's precious Sasuke-kun by promising him the power he needed to succeed in his goal of killing his brother. That squad consisted of Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, Hyuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba, and finally Uzumaki Naruto. The final member of the team, Naruto, and her blonde-haired teammate had made it his 'promise of a lifetime' to bring Sasuke back for her. While this bestilled a sense of comfort in the pinkette, there was something more there than even she was really aware of. A part of her just wanted Naruto to come back alive and unharmed, not really caring too much for what fate held for the Uchiha. However, this part of her remained silent…until she finally managed to drift off to sleep.

* * *

_It was a peaceful day with the sun shining brightly upon Konoha. A 7 year-old Sakura had come to the park that day while her family was busy running their business. She was part of a civilian family in a shinobi village. Throughout her short life, she had seen the mighty shinobi of this village come and go, leaping from building to building and to some, it was just an amazing sight. She had talked to her parents about it a lot and had decided that she wanted to become a shinobi, but would sadly have to wait another year until she was old enough to enter the Academy._

_However, today the shinobi appeared to be confused and lost and much of the business sector in Konoha had been painted bright orange. It was obvious the shinobi were looking for the culprit, but they were having trouble finding him/her. For now, Sakura just shrugged it off, figuring the culprit would be caught soon enough, although a warm smile of amusement came to her face._

_As she reached the park, Sakura spied a group of girls around her age and figured it would be a good time to make some new friends. Despite being a happy a cheerful girl, Sakura was still lacking in the friend department, possibly due to her large forehead that everyone her age made fun of._

"_Hey everyone! I'm Sakura, does anyone want to play" asked Sakura as she approached the group of girls._

"_Hey, what's up with that forehead?" called out one of the girls._

"_I don't know, it's huge!" exclaimed another of the girls._

"_And ugly" commented another one as they all burst out in laughter._

"_So girls, it appears Ms. Forehead wants to play" said an intimidating girl with long dark hair by the name of Ami. "What do you say, girls? Shall he let her?"_

_The girls took a step towards Sakura, who was now scared. These girls looked all to menacing and she was most certainly afraid of the 'game' they wanted to play. Sakura began backing up until she had reached the edge of the park and the beginning of the forest, perhaps they wouldn't follow her in there. Unfortunately for her, it appeared as if she was wrong and this wasn't going to be her method of escape. As the scared Sakura backed up, she wasn't watching where she was going and tripped over a root, landing flat on her behind. _

"_Alright girls, I think Little Ms. Forehead here needs a makeover" said Ami. "Don't you think that'll help her out?" All the girls grinned sinisterly at Sakura and Sakura closed her eyes, expecting the worse to come. But it didn't._

_Sakura had opened her eyes just in time to see her attackers being pelted by a barrage of paint-filled balloons. The girls squealed a bit before running away as to not get sprayed with any more paint._

"_Yeah! Take that your meanies! That'll teach you to pick on people, -ttebayo!" shouted a boy with spiky blonde hair who jumped down from the tree, holding a water balloon in his hand. _

_Sakura's eyes shot wide as she eyed her savior. He turned around with a big foxy grin on his face._

"_Hi, sorry about them. I hope they didn't hurt you" said the blonde boy._

_Sakura shook her head. "No, thank you umm…"_

"_Huh? Oh, sorry. The name's Uzumaki Naruto, -ttebayo!" declared Naruto. Sakura couldn't help but giggle a little bit at the blonde's enthusiasm at introducing himself. _

"_Thank you, Naruto-kun. I'm Haruno Sakura" said Sakura, but saw that Naruto was examining her curiously and for some reason. "Is something wrong?"_

"_Nothing, it's just…you have a big forehead" said Naruto. This caused Sakura to shrink away, thinking she was being made fun of again._

_It was at this point that Sakura began to cry. All she had wanted was a friend and even this boy, who she thought she could be friends with was making fun of her. That is until Naruto finished his thought._

"_It's actually kind of cute" said Naruto. _

_It was at this time that they both heard the sounds of approaching ninja. "I think he's over here!"_

"_Oh crap. Sorry Sakura-chan, but I've gotta get out of here. Maybe I'll see you around sometime" said Naruto as he threw the paint balloon he had in his hand, nailing an ANBU square in the face/mask with it before taking off with an entire ANBU squad in chase. _

…

_The dream seemed to fast forward almost a year in time, with her and her blonde friend hanging out more and more. This day, they were hanging out around one of the small rivers flowing through the village; Naruto was teaching her how to skip rocks. Everything was enjoyable for her and she enjoyed the times where she and her friend would meet up and play. He was one of the few people whom she felt she could actually be herself around, the only others being her own family and another blonde girl by the name of Yamanaka Ino._

"_Sakura, honey!" _

_Sakura's head perked up as she heard her mother calling out for her._

"_Kaasan! I'm by the river!" called out Sakura. She turned around to her friend, wanting to introduce him to her parents. For some reason, Naruto had rejected any attempt to meet Sakura's parents and actually ran away whenever he heard or saw them coming. If this kept up, they were going to think she had an imaginary friend, which was something she obviously felt she was too old for. _

"_Oh please?" she begged Naruto, wanting her mother to meet the blonde for the first time._

"_I'm not so sure, Sakura-chan" said Naruto._

"_What's wrong? It's not like she's going to bite or anything" assured Sakura._

"_It's just…the adults. You see, they kind of don't like me and I don't want to lose…" Naruto trailed off._

"_Lose what?" asked Sakura._

"_I don't want to lose you. For some reason, all the adults pull their children away from me" said Naruto._

_At that point, Sakura suddenly remembered the day over a year ago when she saw a certain blonde boy standing in the middle of the park while all the parents dragged their children away, scolding them. It was then that she realized that boy was Naruto, but the question was why? She had been friends with him for nearly a year now and even though he could be a bit of a trouble maker at times with all his pranks, it was actually rather enjoyable…at least if you weren't on the receiving end of the prank._

"_It's okay, I'm sure everything will be alright" said Sakura. "Trust me."_

"_O-okay" said Naruto hesitantly._

"_There you are Sakura, and who's you-" Sakura's mother, Haruno Mebuki never finished that sentence as she ran over to Naruto, slapped his hand away from hers and shoved the boy away, a look of hatred and fear in her eyes._

"_Mom?" asked Sakura._

"_SAKURA, I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU NEAR THAT, THAT THING AGAIN!" demanded Mebuki. The words stung Naruto deep. Yet another of his friends was being taken away from him._

"_What are you talking about, mom?" asked Sakura. "Naruto's actually pretty nice. We've been hanging out together for some time now and he's friendly, and actually really funny."_

"_THAT'S NOT THE POINT HERE! HE'S…HE'S NOT RIGHT. YOU'RE BETTER OFF JUST STAYING AWAY FROM HIM!" objected Mebuki. At this point in time, Sakura's father, the person who it appeared Sakura got her pink hair from, also came onto the scene._

"_Honey, take Sakura home. I'll get rid of THAT" he said pointing at Naruto. Mebuki nodded and dragged a struggling Sakura away. All Sakura could do at this point was mutter the words 'I'm sorry, Naruto-kun' before her own mother slapped her across the face._

* * *

Sakura jolted awake in the early morning. That had been an odd dream, and the most surprising part is that it had been about her and Naruto. What the hell was that even about? She couldn't figure out. Sure she didn't hate him as much any more since they were out of the academy, but she could never see herself actually playing with her teammate like she was in her dreams.

"_Hopefully today's the day Naruto brings back Sasuke-kun"_ thought Sakura as she gleefully moved to the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead. Today was going to be a big day indeed, but not in the way she thought.

It was later in the evening and Sakura was walking around town until she heard Ino call out.

"Hey billboard! We've gotta go now!" shouted Ino.

"Ino-pig? What's up?" asked Sakura.

"They're back! And apparently Chouji, Neji, and Kiba are in the hospital!" shouted Ino, grabbing Sakura's wrist and dragging the pinkette back. It was on their way to the hospital that the skies opened up and rain began to wash over Konoha.

* * *

As Sakura and Ino arrived at the hospital, they saw Shikamaru standing in the middle of the hallway, his eyes still red and wet as if he had been crying. Tsunade was standing outside the door to the operation room with a look of success on her face.

"Tsunde-sama, how is he?" asked a worried Ino.

"Don't worry Ino, Chouji will be fine. And so will Neji from the sounds of it" said Tsunade.

"And Sasuke-kun and Naruto?" asked Sakura.

Tsunade sighed. "I don't know, they haven't gotten back yet."_ "You had better make sure you come back safely Gaki."_

For Sakura, not knowing where Sasuke was a hard blow for her. But then there was that part of her screaming out, caring for Naruto and not Sasuke. Again, it was silenced.

"Sakura? You alright?" asked Ino. Sakura just looked down, worryingly as her own head began swirling with thoughts. It was at this time when the remaining members of the Konoha 12, along with the Sand Trio who had provided assistance to the recovery team, had gathered to await the hopeful return of their two comrades.

For the third time that day, the red lights in the hospital went off, indicating the arrival of a critically injured patient and everyone held their breath as to who would be the next arrival. There were only two more arrivals they were waiting on and the red-light was never a good thing.

As Tsunade turned her head down the main hall, leading to the lobby, she immediately spied a silver-haired man running her way at top speed, carrying a bloodied orange bundle. Everyone's eyes, especially Sakura's, widened in horror and Tsunade could only help but stand there in complete and utter shock as her past looked as if it was going to repeat itself again.

"Tsunade-sama, we need to get Naruto into operation immediately, he's fading even as I speak" said Kakashi. "Tsunade-sama?"

"I…" Tsuande could barely speak.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" shouted Shizune. "Damn, get a stretcher over here stat!"

Within seconds, a stretcher was brought and Naruto was laid down so that everyone was able to see the hole that was still present in his chest. The healing abilities of the Kyuubi had been hard at work repairing the most vital of things, but even with the biju's help, it still wasn't enough. Naruto was dying and the only one who could save him had frozen up.

Everyone rose to their feet to get a better look at just what had befallen the cheerful blonde bundle of energy they all knew and love.

"Tsunade-sama! Snap out of it!" shouted Shizune as she gave Tsunade a strong slap across the face, hoping to snap her master back to reality. Tsunade lifted her hand up to her still pink cheek and rubbed it. "Tsunade-sama, I'm…"

"Shizune, thank you" said Tsunade before she began to yell out. "Get him into the ER **NOW!"**

As Naruto was wheeled off into the ER to undergo a life-saving operation against time, everyone was left standing there in the hall, speechless until Gai finally spoke up. "What happened Kakashi?"

* * *

Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja, and jonin sensei of the team that had practically imploded upon itself raced to the site of the battle hoping to arrive before it was too late. This was his team and he wanted to do everything he could to keep them together and happy. He owed it to his former teammate, Uchiha Obito, and his late sensei, Namikaze Minato, to see that these two boys were happy and safe.

As the skies opened up and rain began to pour down upon the silver-haired jonin, his pace increased as he now knew he was running out of time. If he didn't hurry, the scent would be gone and his hopes lost. Kakashi and his lead, a dog by the name of Pakkun, raced forward towards the site of the conflict, hoping nothing too drastic had been done just yet.

As Kakashi approached the cliff overlooking the Valley of the End, his single visible eye widened in horror at the site that befell him. His orange-clad student laid along the bank, two large holes in his blood-stained jumpsuit, one in his shoulder and one directly over the boy's heart.

The scarecrow raced down to the scene, a single thought repeating itself in his mind. _"Please don't be dead, Naruto."_

Surely a Chidori to the heart would kill a person instantly, but Kakashi held onto the sliver of hope that the very thing that his blonde student was cursed with was keeping him alive. Yes, the blonde was the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the very monstrosity that attacked Konoha almost 13 years ago. It was because of this curse that Naruto had suffered his entire life at the hands of the village, being constantly beaten, shunned, insulted, and even almost killed on numerous occasions.

It had been the very thing that cursed Naruto's life that had kept him alive throughout all of those events and all Kakashi could do now was hope that the Kyuubi was keeping him alive now as well. When he was able to get his first good look at his student, he could already see that the hole in Naruto's chest was smaller in size than a normal Chidori would have caused; giving him hope that Naruto was alive. As he reached Naruto he checked for a pulse. Thankfully there was one, but it was weak. Even with the accelerated healing, courtesy of the Kyuubi, Naruto was still dying.

Taking one last quick look around, Kakashi saw the only sign of Sasuke being the scratched forehead protector lying next to Naruto. Sasuke was long gone and it was too late to catch him, but that was now the least of Kakashi's worries. He had to get Naruto back to the village immediately to be treated if the boy had any hopes at surviving and so Kakashi popped a few food pills, picked up the blonde, and raced back to Konoha with time working against him. The healing on Naruto had slowed and Kakashi knew that even this injury was too much for the Kyuubi to fully heal. The only one who could heal him was Tsuande-sama herself.

As Kakashi raced on, it was becoming clear that Naruto would not make it at this pace. He only had one option left. You see, Maito Gai wasn't the only one in the village with the ability to open a majority of the eight inner gates. Kakashi had the ability to open up to five of them and he would need all five open if he had any hopes at making it back to Konoha in time, even if it would mean he was bed-ridden for a few days recovering from the side-effects. _"Gates of Opening, Healing, Life, Pain, and Limit…open!"_

A massive surge of chakra flowed through Kakashi and his speed increased greatly. Now, all he had to do was to try and maintain this level of chakra until he reached Konoha.

* * *

"_Did Sasuke-kun really try and kill Naruto…no, it couldn't be"_ thought Sakura as she was trying to digest the thoughts amongst those already spinning in her head, primarily those from last night.

"He can't…" muttered Sakura.

It was then that Ino snapped around to her pink-haired friend. "You had better not be thinking of defending that stuck up bastard!" To say everyone was shocked by Ino's outburst would be an understatement. To everyone's understanding, she was still thought of as one of Sasuke's biggest fangirls and to hear her call him a bastard shocked everyone. Ino got no reaction from Sakura, which was odd. Something was wrong; Sakura hadn't blurted out something in defense of her 'precious' Sasuke-kun as Ino had expected. Instead, she was just frozen there, not doing a thing.

"Sakura?" asked Ino, waving her hand in Sakura's face to try and grab the pinkette's attention. "Hey, Sakura?!" Ino decided to shake Sakura on the shoulder, only for the pinkette to collapse completely to the floor.

"Sakura-san!" shouted Lee, rushing to catch her before she hit the floor. Immediately, the jonin around were around Sakura to see why she had suddenly collapsed.

"Sakura!" shouted Kakashi as he tried to wake his student out of whatever fainting spell had hit her. Kurenai immediately drew a flashlight out of her back pocket, opened Sakura's closed eye and shown the light, looking for some sort of pupil dilation.

"Shit, she's not responding" swore Kurenai. "Get a stretcher over here!"

Within seconds Sakura was also on a stretcher and being carried away for treatment, if only they knew what to treat.

"Kurenai-sensei? W-what just happened?" asked a scared Ino.

"I don't really know. It's like her brain has shut down on her" said Kurenai. "But the question is why?"

"What can we do?" asked Ino.

"Mot much I'm afraid but see what the tests say" said Kurenai.

"_Sakura, please come back"_ thought Ino.

The light to the ER flickered, indicating that Naruto's operation had just finished and everyone was now holding their breath to see if Naruto would emerge alright. He had to, he always had after all. Moments later, an exhausted Tsunade came out of the door, rolling a gurney with a bandaged Naruto laying on it.

"Is he…" asked Kakashi. His question was answered as Naruto began to stir, something no one had expected, but then again this was Naruto we are talking about.

"Uhg…Kakashi-sensei?" muttered Naruto.

"Hey there, I'm surprised you're up so early" said Kakashi. "You've only been out of surgery what, a few minutes now?"

"You know me, it's going to take more than a hospital to keep me down" said Naruto, before looking depressed. "I'm sorry sensei, I failed."

"No Naruto, you didn't. I am the sensei of Team 7 and as such this is my responsibility" said Kakashi. "Just rest for now and everything will be okay." "_I hope."_

"Kakashi-sensei, where's Sakura-chan?" asked a concerned Naruto, looking around.

"Naruto, she's…" spoke Ino.

"She's not here. I was hoping…maybe she'd be here. But I get it, she probably hates me for not bringing Sasuke-teme back" said a disappointed Naruto.

"Naruto, don't think that…" replied Ino. "I'm sure she cares about you." _"I know she does, but I don't know where those feelings for you went. You were the first one she ever called a friend. Where did that Sakura go?"_

"No, it's alright Ino. Perhaps we never were meant to be friends" said a depressed Naruto. "You tried and I can't thank you enough for that, but I guess those times were never real."

"Naruto…she passed out when she heard what happened" said Ino.

Naruto's eyes quickly shot over towards the other blonde's. "W-what happened!" said Naruto, trying to get out of bed, only to be restrained by Tsunade.

"If you even think about moving around, I'll make sure you don't leave that bed for the rest of the year!" growled Tsunade.

"Tsunade-sama" spoke Shikamaru. "What do I have to do to be condemned to a bed for an entire year?"

This earned a round of laughter from everyone.

"Oh you shouldn't worry about that. You've got far too much to do that I don't even know if you'll need a bed at all for the next year" replied Tsunade, earning a groan from Shikamaru.

"Ino, what happened to Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, I believe you mentioned she fainted? What happened?" asked Tsunade.

"We don't really know, Hokage-sama" spoke Kurenai. "One moment Kakashi told us what happened and the next, she collapses."

"I see. Well, sadly we'll just have to wait for the tests. Although Ino, if you could go and get your dad. I have a feeling his services might be required" said Tsunade.

"Right away, Hokage-sama" said Ino.

"Hold on, what's going on? Ino, you can't actually think Sakura truly cares for Naruto after everything she put him through during the Academy" said Chouji. "And what does he mean by you tried?"

"It's going to be hard to believe, but before the Academy, those two actually used to be really close friends, but then something happened just before we started the Academy, and…well you all know the rest of it" explained Ino. "I just don't know what happened."

"What are you talking about Ino? Sakura practically hated Naruto in the Academy. Even I can't see how those two would be friends. And since when did you stop being a Sasukette?" asked Shikamaru. Even he was slightly confused by the dialogue that had taken place in the hospital.

Ino sighed as she looked around. Even the jonin looked interested in the story she had. "It was actually the day right before we started the academy…"

* * *

Flashback no Jutsu

Sakura, Naruto, and Ino had once again gathered together in the park. Ever since that whole incident a few weeks ago regarding Naruto and Sakura's parents, they had to get together in secret without Sakura's parents knowing. Seeing as Ino's clan and parents really didn't have a problem with Naruto, this worked out perfectly for the three of them whenever they wanted to get together as Sakura would just tell her parents she was going over to Ino's.

"So tomorrow we start our careers as ninja! I can't wait, -ttebayo!" declared Naruto. This caused Sakura to blush a little, not going unnoticed by Ino. She never did understand why Naruto had so much energy, but she did always like him like that. The best way she could describe it was that it was just him.

"_Eh, it seems someone's got a little crush"_ thought Ino as she began to get some mischievous thoughts in her head. "You know we won't be real ninja until we graduate in four years, right?"

"I know, but tomorrow we start getting to learn all sorts of cool jutsu and ninja stuff!" exclaimed Naruto.

"This coming from the guy who can already outrun a squad of ANBU" said Ino, pointing to Naruto.

"How about this. Let's all make a promise to do the very best we can" said Sakura.

"Alright, those silly boys won't know what hit 'em!" said Ino.

"Hey!" objected Naruto. "No matter, because tomorrow I start my journey towards being Hokage! –ttebayo!"

Pause Flashback no Jutsu

* * *

"…After that, Sakura had to leave to go home" said Ino. "And when we saw her the next day, it's like her personality had done a complete 180."

* * *

Resume Flashback no Jutsu

The following morning on the very first day of classes at the Academy, Naruto burst into the class room. "Yata! Today's the day I start down my path towards being Hokage! -ttebayo!"

This immediately earned Naruto multiple glares, including one from the one he considered his best friend…Sakura.

"_Who the hell is that loser? And why does he think he can become Hokage? If anyone's going to become Hokage, it's going to be Sasuke-kun…EEE!" _squealed Sakura inside her head.

"**Cha! Sasuke-kun can kick that loser's ass!"** declared Inner Sakura.

"Good morning, Ino-chan" said Naruto, waving to Ino. Ino returned a smile and a polite wave and Naruto made his way to the chair in front of Ino, seeing as the blonde already was sitting next to Shikamaru at that time, who was pleasantly taking a nap at that time.

Naruto took his seat, which just so happened to be next to Sakura. "Good morning, Sakura-chan. Today's the day, right?"

"_You mean the day I strangle you if I don't get to sit next to Sasuke-kun"_ thought Sakura. It was then that squeals of crazed fangirls erupted throughout the classroom.

"Sasuke-kun!" shouted every girl in the room save two. Ino was now sending Sakura a questioning look as to why she was jumping up and down like a baboon waiting for its daily banana.

"Sasuke-kun, sit next to me!" shouted Sakura as she sent a threatening glare towards Naruto. "Naruto! Move it! That's Sasuke-kun's seat!"

Pause Flashback

* * *

"What she did then absolutely dumbfounded me" said Ino.

"Don't remind me" said Naruto, rubbing his cheek.

"Yeah, I think I remember that day. She hit you pretty hard didn't she?" asked Shikamaru, earning a wince of sympathy from Hinata.

* * *

Resume Flashback no Jutsu

"That's Sasuke-kun's seat, Naruto-baka! Shanaroo!" shouted Sakura as she slammed her fist hard into Naruto's face, sending him clear across the classroom and smashing into the opposite wall.

Ino just sat in complete shock, not knowing what had just happened. Did Sakura just give her best friend and possible crush a punch that made her look like the next generation Tsunade?

"Oh Sasuke-kun there's a seat over here" said Sakura sweetly. Unfortunately for her, Sasuke took a seat elsewhere in the room and Ino had already rushed over to check on Naruto.

"What the hell was that Billboard-brow?!" shouted Ino out of complete rage. "You could have seriously hurt him with that!"

"That's what'll happen when you get in-between me and my true love! Cha!" declared Sakura.

"True love? You barely just said your first words to the guy and yet you've known Naruto for over a year now!" argued Ino.

"Please, like I'd ever hang out with that loser" scoffed Sakura.

"That's it, I'm going to…" Ino was stopped before she had an opportunity to beat the sense back into her 'friend'.

"Ino-chan, don't" said Naruto as he picked himself out of the rubble and took his seat before class started.

End Flashback no Jutsu

* * *

"That day, Naruto knew something was wrong with Sakura and he also vowed to do whatever it took to get the old Sakura back" explained Ino. "From then, we agreed to have me infiltrate the Sasuke Fan Club to see if I could convince Sakura to come back, but it only ended up developing into the rivalry between us that I absolutely hated. I mean, I didn't mind a bit of competition from Sakura, but I didn't want it to be over some guy, especially not Sasuke-teme."

"Okay, let me get this straight. You actually faked being a Sasukette?" asked Shikamaru. Despite having an IQ over 200, this was just something that defied all logic to him. Ino nodded. "I never thought women could be even more troublesome than they already were." This earned the lazy genius a couple of death glares from all the women in the room.

"While this is actually turning out to be a good story, can we take it out of the hallway?" suggested (more like ordered) Tsunade. "I've still gotta get this Gaki hooked up for observation."

"So how long are you going to be out of commission for?" asked Ino.

"You know me, I'll be up and about by tomorrow" replied Naruto.

"Oh hell you won't! You just had your heart pierced by a Chidori! You're lucky to even be alive!" yelled Tsunade.

"How did you survive that?" asked Tenten.

"Naruto heals...faster than normal" said Ino. The night Naruto had found out about the Kyuubi, he had told Ino as she was one of his close friends at that point, even if she was still acting like a stuck-up fan-girl.

"But still…" pushed Tenten.

"Consider it Naruto's bloodline" said Tsaunde. Naruto had a bloodline? This revelation startled everyone who didn't know about the Kyuubi and Shino, but then again no one could really read an Aburame.

As the entire mob left the hallway, they left a certain masked ninja behind sitting on the bench.

"You coming Kakashi-sensei?" asked Ino.

"Hehe. You see, since I kind of had to use the gates to rush Naruto back, it hurts to move" said Kakashi, causing Tsunade to smack her head.

As the relocation ended in a designated hospital room, a nurse came bursting through the door. "Tsunade-sama, the reports on Haruno Sakura are available."

Tsunade nodded and took the reports from the mental scans performed on Sakura. "Hmm…Well this certainly is interesting."

"What is it Tsunade-baachan? Is Sakura-chan going to be alright?" asked Naruto.

"She's in a coma it appears" said Tsunade, causing everyone to gasp. "But this isn't a normal coma. Unlike a normal coma, the brain's activity is brought to a standstill. However, in this case, her brain activity has actually been accelerated to dangerous levels. If allowed to go on for much longer, her brain could overload, causing normal activity to cease."

Following a few more gasps, Tsunade signaled for an ANBU. "I need you to get me Yamanaka Inoichi, immediately!"

"Hai, Hokage-sama! Right away" said the ANBU before disappearing.

"Is it really that serious Tsunade-sama?" asked Ino out of concern for Sakura.

"I'm afraid it is. I don't even know what's going on and your dad's our best bet when it comes to the mind" said Tsunade. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to go and check on Haruno. If you all want, you can remain here, but I can't have anyone else inside with us."

* * *

No more than 15 minutes later, Inoichi was already in observation room set up for Sakura, along with Tsunade and Shizune.

"So her brain processes have increased to dangerous levels?" asked Inoichi. Tsunade nodded.

"We need you to tell us what the hell is going on in there" said Tsunade.

"Hai, Hokage-sama" said Inoichi as he placed his hand on Sakura's head and prepared to take a mind walk.

* * *

Inside Sakura's head,

As Inoichi was looking around Sakura's head, at first glance it appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary for a regular genin. However, even he could tell that her brain was working at a much faster pace than it should have been as the heat inside Sakura's head increased as he got closer to her actual brain. Tsunade was right, if it continued on like it was now, Sakura's brain would completely overheat and shutdown.

It was then that he saw the cause of the problems, a broken seal, placed on the underside of the brain where memories are processed.

"A seal? Why would a genin have a seal on their brain?" asked Inochi as he moved in to examine the seal more closely. Thankfully, it proved to be unguarded as the one who placed it on Sakura must not have been expecting anyone to come in here, at least not for awhile. However, that didn't make things easy for Inoichi. He recognized that seal. It was a Yamanaka Memory Alteration Seal.

"H-What the hell is this doing on Sakura?" asked Inoichi. That seal had been forbidden in the Yamanaka clan for the very reason Inoichi was in there now. The seal was rather easy to break by emotional trauma and if it did break, then the very thing that was happening to Sakura would happen, until the brain completely overloaded.

The only good thing that came out of this was that Inoichi knew how to remove it and thankfully it wasn't too late to do so. Also, he would be able to find out who and why that seal was placed on Sakura in the first place. Performing the necessary jutsu, Inoichi showed his skills as a mental expert and removed the memory seal from Sakura. Immediately, he could feel her brain activity settling down to a normal level. Now it was time for answers as he pulled out one of Sakura's memory scrolls. Ino had mentioned Sakura had started acting weird around the time when they started the academy, so he figured it would be best to start around there.

* * *

_The day before the start of the academy, Sakura was walking home from the Yamanaka compound after spending some time with her two best friends. She was happily humming a cheerful tune. Seeing as her and Naruto-kun were supposed to be in the same class together, that would give her a chance to get to spend some quality time with him. The only problem was that some hot-shot Uchiha was supposed to be in her class as well. She had met one of them once, Uchiha Inabi was his name, and honestly he came over as a stuck-up arrogant prick, and she was certain the Uchiha in her class would be the same._

_Oh well, as long as he didn't try to make a move on her, thinking that since he was a 'Great Uchiha' that he was entitled to whatever he wanted and she could spend some more time with Ino and Naruto-kun that everything would be alright._

_As she got home, she saw both of her parents sitting at a table, motioning for her to take a seat._

"_Sakura, as you know you'll be entering the Shinobi Academy tomorrow" spoke Mebuki. "Seeing as this is a shinobi village, shinobi have a great deal of power and seeing as you are seeking to become one, you will to and thanks to you, you will help our family gain the power that it's entitled to."_

'_Is that all Kaasan wants? More power in this village' thought Sakura to herself. She was well aware of her mother's attempts to increase her status in the village. She was already a member on the Civilian Council, but she wasn't satisfied with that._

"_Now, unfortunately from what I hear, there's a…boy….in your class that I believe we've told you about before" said Kizashi._

'_They must be talking about Naruto-kun. Why does everyone hate him so much? Why can't they just accept him like Inochi-san?' thought Sakura. In all honesty, this wasn't something she was willing to argue with her mother as the last time she had even brought up Naruto's name, her parents had threatened to ground her for a month._

"_Don't worry Kaasan, Tousan, I'll stay away from him." That was a complete lie and the very last thing she wanted to do while at the academy._

"_But, if I am also correct, there is also an Uchiha boy in your class that we believe would be more than fit for someone like you" said Mebuki. Sakura wanted to barf and was struggling to hold down the sushi she had at Ino's house that day. Her parents caught the look of disgust on her face. "Is something wrong dear?"_

"_No, Kaasan" said Sakura, swallowing her pride (and lunch) and taking a drink of the water that was in front of her to wash everything down. Sadly, the pride didn't stay down. "But if you think I'll just be some plaything so that you can weasel your way up someone's ass, you're wrong!"_

_With that, Sakura stood up and slammed her chair into the table before stomping up to her room, leaving her parents shaking their head at the table._

"_You can come out now" said Kizashi as a masked figure with orange-ish hair tied into a ponytail stepped out from the shadows. _

"_So you want me to do it?" asked the masked figure._

"_Please. It's the only way to do what's best for our daughter" pleaded Kizashi. The masked figure nodded. "There's a minor paralysis drug in the water she drank. She should be out right about…" a thud was heard upstairs. "Now."_

_As the three of them walked up the stairs, they saw Sakura lying on the floor, unable to move._

"_K-kaasan? What's wrong with me? I-I can't move" said a worried Sakura._

"_Nothing's wrong with you dear, at least nothing will be wrong once our friend is finished" said Mebuki. Sakura tried to scream, but the drug had now numbed her vocal chords and she found herself completely unable to move or speak._

"_So what exactly shall I have her think?" asked the masked figure._

"_First, make sure she doesn't remember this night at all. Also, make it so she has no memory of that…THING. In fact, make it so that she'll attack him if he says anything to her. We would also appreciate if you could make it so that she practically fawns over the Uchiha" said Kizashi. _

'_What? Me fawn over the Uchiha? And hurt Naruto-kun? No! I can't!' thought Sakura._

"_Very well. I am sure my master will appreciate the fact that this will help sever any emotional bonds the jinchuriki may have. After all, he is but a tool and should have no emotions" said the masked figure in a cold tone as he went to apply the mental seal. "So why did you leave the organization, Kizashi?"_

"_As you said, a shinobi is merely a tool that should be without emotions. I was unable to extinguish mine, so I felt as if I would only hinder the organization's goals" replied Kizashi._

_The masked man went to apply the seal to Sakura's mind and at first she struggled to resist, but then she felt another presence enter her consciousness._

_Inside her own mind, she could only help as another persona began imposing its own will on her own. The best way Sakura could describe this persona was as 'Inner Sakura'._

* * *

Inoichi was by no means happy. Not only had he discovered that a forbidden seal had been applied to a mere child, but also that it was done by one of his own clansmen, and he had a pretty damn good idea as to who it was. Now the only thing left to do was to find this alternate persona. Fortunately, he didn't have to look too far.

"**Get out of my head, you don't know what you're messing with!"** screamed Inner Sakura as she brought her giant fists down upon where Inoichi was standing. Fortunately, Inoichi was able to float just out of reach of the Inner Sakura.

"_Hmm…a more dominant personality to repress the real personality. Yeah, that seal definitely is a pain in the ass. One reason why it was forbidden in the first place"_ thought Inoichi. _"Fortunately, all it is is a persona, making it vulnerable to my own techniques."_

"Ninpo: Shinranshin no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Mind Destruction jutsu)" called out Inoichi, aiming his jutsu at Inner Sakura. His jutsu hit its target and Inner Sakura began to cry out in pain as it slowly began to crumble away under the effects of Inoichi's jutsu.

"_You've got a lot of answering to do Fuu"_ thought an angry Inoichi as he exited Sakura's mind.

* * *

The real world,

Inoichi's eyes opened, indicating that he was done with whatever he had set out to do.

"What did you find?" asked Tsuande.

"She should be fine now. There was a seal in her mind that was affecting her personality in an extreme way. I'll tell you more in my report, but right now I've got a rat in my own clan to hunt down" said Inoichi.

"A rat?" asked Tsunade.

"Yes. The seal used was a forbidden seal of my clan" said Inoichi. "For some reason, it broke and that's what messed with her mental activity. She should wake after a little time to rest her mind and I think many people here will find her much more pleasant to be around, if I remember the way she used to be. I also think you should question the girl's parents."

"I see, ANBU!" ordered Tsunade and three ANBU appeared before her. "Tora, Neko, I want your full cooperation with Inoichi in removing this 'rat' of his. Dog, I want you to go and locate Mr. and Mrs. Haruno and bring them in for questioning."

* * *

Ino was the last to leave Naruto's room, staying with her friend until visiting hours had officially come to a close. Thankfully though, she was able to catch Tsunade on the way out.

"Tsunade-sama!" called out Ino as Tsunade came to a halt. "I-is she?"

"She's going to be just fine, and I think you'll notice something different about her when she wakes up. You're father's truly a miracle worker of the mind" said Tsunade.

A smile lit up Ino's face. "Really? That's great!"

"Ino, if I could have a word with you" said Tsunade as she pulled Ino into a side room and told her everything that Inochi had discovered. Ino was furious, not only at Sakura's parents, but also at whomever in her clan had done this to her best friend. The only assurance that she had to this entire mess was that her father was already taking care of it. But still, Ino did the only thing she could at that point and wrap Tsunade in a hug. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama. If Sakura's really back, you have no idea how happy this will make Naruto."

"I'm sure it will, now if I could ask a favor…" said Tsunade.

"Anything, just name it!" exclaimed Ino without hesitation.

"I want you to say here with Sakura, in case she wakes up. I'm afraid of what might happen when she awakens and realizes what exactly she's done, even if it wasn't her fault" said Tsunade. There was no way Ino was going to deny this. Her friend would most certainly need her there, considering all the torment she put Naruto through the past four and a half years.

* * *

The next evening, Sakura awoke in a cold sweat, as if she had just awakened from a nightmare. She stared down with her emerald eyes at her trembling hands, the very ones that she herself had punched her Naruto-kun with what had to be at least 1000 times.

"_N-no…it can't be...I would never…"_ thought Sakura, but then she remembered herself and every single time she hit him, every time she hurt him, just because he was trying to be her friend (or more). Every time he had tried to ask her out on a date, instead of responding with the 'Of course!' that she wanted, she would respond with a fist.

But the worst of it was that her own parents had done this to her. They had robbed her of four years of happiness and had some creepy masked guy do something to turn her into an Uchiha-tard, or Sasukette it put it nicely.

And then she watched as Naruto came through the hospital doors, a hole punched in his chest by the very bastard she wanted nothing to do with. What only made it worse was that she had used Naruto's own feelings towards her as a way to make him promise to bring Sasuke back. She knew what happened to Naruto when he promised something and she had to do something to make him take back that promise. Whatever that pedophile wanted with Sasuke-teme was none of her concern.

All she could do right now, was cry. Cry over the pain that she had caused the first one to truly befriend her, despite her forehead. After a few minutes of crying, she felt a gentle embrace and opened her puffy eyes to see Ino comforting her. "It's okay Sakura. Everything will be okay" said Ino. "You're back with us."

"Will he? Will he forgive me?" asked a teary Sakura.

"Of course he will. I already explained to him what had happened, but I think he wants to see for himself" said Ino. "Think you can walk?"

Sakura nodded and got out of the bed, nearly stumbling over herself before Ino helped her regain her balance.

* * *

"Hey, thanks for bringing the ramen, Shikamaru" said Naruto as he slurped down the bowl in front of him.

"Yeah, it was no biggie. I just wish I was in your position right about now. Although if I was, I'd probably be dead right about now" joked Shikamaru.

A knock was heard on the door, and in a panic Naruto fumbled the bowl of ramen and could only watch as it fell to the floor and the bowl shattered.

"What was that crash?" came a voice from outside the door, one that Naruto immediately recognized as Sakura's. Ino had said that she should be okay and back to the old Sakura, but Ino didn't know for sure that point either. Would this be the old, friendly Sakura, or the one who wanted to beat him in repeatedly?"

"Well, I'd better be going" said Shikamaru before heading to the door to leave Naruto to fend for himself. Not closing the door, Sakura poked her head inside.

"Sakura-chan?" questioned Naruto as Sakura slowly stepped into the room, before being brutally pushed to the foot of Naruto's bed by a certain blonde, who was grinning innocently.

"Naruto, I…"

"Don't worry Sakura-chan, I'll bring Sasuke ba-" Naruto was cut off as Sakura threw herself at him and wrapped him up in a big hug as she cried.

"Don't even think of completing that sentence. Please, don't" begged Sakura. "I'm so sorry Naruto, for everything. Just please promise me you won't do anything like that again. That's all I care about. I care about you, Naruto-kun"

"_Yep, the old Sakura-chan's back"_ thought Naruto as he wrapped her in a returned hug. "I will, but on one condition."

"Condition?" asked Sakura.

"Wanna go on a date with me some time?" asked Naruto.

"If there is one thing I learned from my time as a Sasuke-tard, it's that you really can be a baka sometimes. Especially if you're still asking me out after everything I put you through. But, you're my baka, so I guess that isn't too bad" replied Sakura.

"So is that a yes?" asked Naruto.

"Of course it is. How else am I going to get the image of that almost catastrophe where I nearly kissed Sasuke. Bleagh!" replied Sakura.

"Oh my god! You actually almost kissed him?" gasped Ino. "I'm sorry Sakura, but if that had happened, you would have been lost for sure."

"Umm…actually that wasn't Sasuke you almost kissed" said Naruto. "You see, I kind of henged (transformation jutsu) into Sasuke because I wanted you to kiss me."

"Well, if you just wanted a kiss why didn't you just ask?" asked Sakura.

"Because I would have been kissing your knuckles" replied Naruto.

"Well, how about this" said Sakura sweetly as she laid a small peck on Naruto's cheek, causing the blonde to blush a near-Hinata shade of red. "You might get a little more if you show me a good time on our date."

A bright flash snapped and both Naruto and Sakura looked back to see Ino holding a camera. "Aww, who's the happy couple?"

"Ino!"

* * *

**Well, that's the start of this story, let me know how you like it so far and I'll go from there.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! **


	2. Moving Forward

**A/N:** **I do want to make clear that I WILL NOT be updating this story at the frequency that the second chapter came out with. For those of you who are familiar with my other stories, you'll know that I like to get the first few chapters out quick in order to establish the story before slowing down with the release of chapters. For this story, I'll try to get the third chapter out relatively quick but that will be the point where I slow down afterwards. Please realize that I do have two other stories that I need to maintain (one of them being my main story) as well as my own personal life. Thank you.**

**A/N: Well, I think the story received a pretty good reception. Here's the second chapter****. Please let me know how it turned out.**

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.

Posted: 4/25/13

* * *

**Chapter 2: Moving Forward**

Footsteps echoed along the concrete, dimly-lit hallway as Haruno Sakura was escorted by an ANBU through one of Konoha's holding facilities. It was from here that criminals were held until they were tried and if they were convicted, they were then relocated to a number of prisons outside the village.

Why was Haruno Sakura in here? Well thankfully she wasn't the newest addition to the happy family that was Konoha's most infamous. Well, if you count that her own family was then perhaps. Due to recent events regarding a forbidden memory alteration seal that had been placed on Sakura four years ago, practically turning her hostile against her best friend and newly minted boyfriend, Sakura was here for answers. The only ones who could give her the answers? Her parents…the same ones who had that damned seal applied in the first place.

As they reached a door at the end of the hallway, Sakura was let into a room with a table in the middle and a single light overhead. On the other side of the table sat Mebuki and Kizashi Haruno, now wearing appropriate prison attire.

"You've got 10 minutes" spoke the ANBU. It was simply regulation that Sakura could only limit her visit to that timeframe, but 10 minutes as better than none.

"Oh thank goodness Sakura, now that you're here we can get this entire mess cleared up and we can go back to figuring out how to get Uchihia-sama to come back to Konoha" spoke Mebuki.

Despite this being her mother, Sakura but glare at the woman with cold, questioning eyes. "Why did you two do it?"

"Do what? I don't get it. You sound like you think we've committed a crime" said Mebuki.

"You know what I'm talking about" replied Sakura before crying out. "Why did you ruin four years of my life with that fucking seal?!"

"You're making I sound like that was a bad thing. In all honesty, we were only doing what we needed to help you" spoke Kizashi. "You needed help and we did what we had to."

"You make it sound as if I was sick. I was happy, not sick!" shouted Sakura. "What's wrong with that?"

"Do you have any idea what that THING is?" screamed Mebuki. "I will not have my daughter reduced to some demon's whore!"

* * *

Flashback no Jutsu

A bright flash erupted from a camera, coincidentally being held by a trigger-happy Ino. "Aww, who's the happy couple?"

"Ino!"

Ino just giggled at this while Sakura tried to grab the camera out of the platinum blonde's hand. "Just relax, I'm only teasing you two. It's just you guys look so cute together!" squealed Ino. It was then that she shot a knowing look towards Naruto and received a nod from the blonde.

"Sakura-chan, before we do call ourselves a couple, there's something I think you should know about me" said Naruto in a serious tone. "You see, the night after graduation, I kind of found out why the village hates me and it's only fair that you know and hear it from me."

Sakura sent Naruto a worrying look and a questioning one at Ino.

"Don't worry, I already know. He told me after that night" said Ino.

"I wanted to tell you as well, but…"

"I understand. I was still under the effects of that seal. After that, I don't really blame you for not trusting me" said Sakura.

"It's not that I didn't trust you, it's I didn't trust what was making you act like you were. I've always trusted you and that's why I wanted to do anything in the academy to bring you back, the Sakura-chan that I could trust" said Naruto. "Anyways, now that you're back, I feel I can trust you with this."

Naruto then proceeded to tell Sakura the story about the graduation exam and how Mizuki had manipulated him into stealing the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing from the Hokage's mansion, up until the point where Mizuki spilled the Kyuubi of all secrets.

"You see, when the Yondaime Hokage defeated the Kyuubi no Kitsune 13 years ago, he couldn't actually kill it as it would just reform a few years later and then we'd be dealing with another Kyuubi attack when it did, so he sealed it inside a newborn baby to keep it at bay and from harming the village. That baby was me" said Naruto as he opened the hospital robe enough to reveal the seal on his stomach.

"_That's why? That's why the entire village hates him and why my parents tried to keep me away from him?"_ thought Sakura as her heart began to melt. She had just gotten out of a coma and now she was afraid that she might just slip into another one. _"But he's not the Kyuubi, he's Naruto-kun. How could anyone as cheerful and nice as him be a demon?"_

"Sakura, just know that Naruto-kun's not the Kyuubi. He's more like its jailor, its prison" spoke Ino.

"I…know. I'm so sorry Naruto-kun. I could never see you as the Kyuubi" apologized Sakura as a tear came to her eyes when she realized the suffering Naruto had experienced, hugging the blonde. "I'm sorry for the way the village treats you because of it and I'm sorry I treated you like shit these past years. If you can ever forgive me, I'll find some way to make it up to you."

"Sakura-chan, it's not your fault. In fact, you've already done more for me than almost anyone else. You were the first one besides Jiji to see me as something more than just a demon or a nuisance. I don't blame you for anything you did while under the control of that seal, and I could even tell you were trying to fight it" said Naruto.

"But the question I have, is why you? Why did the Yondaime use you to seal the Kyuubi? And why were you left alone?" asked Sakura.

"I really…don't know" replied Naruto. "Every time I tried to ask, the question was just brushed aside. Whenever I asked who my parents were, I'd just get 'They were good people who died defending the village'. But that still doesn't help. Why did they offer me up to be used as the Kyuubi's vessel? I can't help but feel like they just abandoned me; thinking of me like the rest of the village does…"

End Flashback no Jutsu

* * *

"I know what he holds back. I know what he saves this village from everyday. He saves this village by holding the monster at bay and all you ever do is treat him like he's some monster!" shouted Sakura. "If you think I'm sick for even wanting to get to know him better, then I'd rather just stay sick! I see him for what he really is, a hurt soul just looking for some form of comfort."

Sakura stood up from the table and left, not wanting to hear the twisted thoughts of her own parents anymore.

"Sakura, stop! We are your parents and if you even think about going back to that monster, then don't even think of coming home ever again!" yelled Mebuki. Sakura stopped in her tracks as her fists clenched.

"I'm sorry, you may be my parents and I still love you no matter what, but there's no way I can forgive you for what you've done to me and Naruto-kun. When you guys get out of here, I'll be out of your home. After all, you wouldn't want a demon whore in your _perfect_ home" said Sakura sarcastically as she left the chamber. As she shut the door, she nearly collapsed, only to be caught by the blonde who had accompanied her.

"Are you sure about that Sakura?" asked Ino.

"I am. They've done too much to hurt me for me to just simply brush it off as if it never happened. I'll forgive them if they learn to accept Naruto for who he is, but until them…" said Sakura.

"No, I understand. If they were my parents, I wouldn't be happy with them either" said Ino. "Look, I'll talk to my dad and see if we can work something out for you. While silly clan laws will actually prevent you from moving in with us, I know for a fact that our clan does own a few apartment buildings around town. Maybe he can let you live in one of those, they're actually quite nice. And as always, if you need anything, just come talk to me okay?"

"Thanks Ino" smiled Sakura. As they emerged from the holding facitily in the T&I building, both Ino and Sakura noticed a blonde and orange blur running towards them.

"Hi Sakura-chan, Ino-chan!" shouted Naruto as he bolted past the girls, a look of pure terror on his face.

"Was that Naruto?" asked Sakura.

"Jeez, what did he do now?" asked Ino.

"Get back here you Brat!" shouted Tsunade as she followed closely behind with some futuristic bazooka-like shot launcher in hand. "You need to get your shots before you can be discharged from the hospital!"

* * *

Later that day, Tsunade had called a council meeting to discuss the results of the Sasuke Retrieval Mission and the events that occurred following the return of the retrieval team. The council could be divided into three sections: the Shinobi Council, the Civilian Council, and the Hokage and her advisors. Currently, everyone was present for this meeting except one member on the Civilian Council.

"Alright, looks like everyone's here. Let's just get this over with" announced Tsunade.

"Tsunade, but we still have to wait on Haruno-san" said one of the civilians at the table.

"Ah yes, well as it appears, Haruno-san is currently being detained to answer for charges raised against her" said Tsunade. "As such, her position on the council is suspended until further notice."

"What charges are these? We demand to know!" ordered another civilian with obvious disrespect.

"Well, I suppose we'll start here. Inoichi-san?" motioned Tsunade to the shinobi side of the table.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Haruno-san is currently charged with knowledge of and the ordering of a forbidden seal placed on her daughter. Said seal alters any desired memories of the individual, but is forbidden due to the risk it may occur. Emotional trauma has been known to easily break the seal and sent whoever bears it into a coma as a result of over activity of the brain. Should this be allowed to occur for a long enough period of time, it can lead to total shutdown of the brain and vegetative state if not death of the victim. This seal can be broken rather easily through emotional trauma, which is quite common in a shinobi's life. As such, my clan had forbidden this seal from use on any Konoha shinobi or ally" Inoichi explained.

"Where exactly are you going with this?" asked another councilman.

"To put it simple, Haruno-san is guilty of using a forbidden seal on her own daughter and endangering the safety of others by using it" said Inoichi.

"Who exactly was she endangering with it?" asked the councilman.

"Well, besides her own daughter, Uzumaki Naruto" said Inoichi before the entire civilian side erupted into chaos.

"I don't see any problem with that. Perhaps that will show the Demon that he's not wanted around here and that he should just leave us!" said one of the councilwomen.

"SILENCE!" shouted Tsunade, trying to retain order. "You do realize that the seal on Haruno-san's daughter, Sakura, not only endangered herself, but also the rest of her team as it was the cause of her fangirl-ism directed towards a certain Uchiha. That seal clouded the valuable judgment and rational thinking required to be a shinobi, also causing the poor girl to severely neglect her duties as a shinobi of this village. This is a serious offence as not only does it take away from the effectiveness of the village's strength and makes us come off as weak to other nations, but it puts any team she's on at considerable risk."

"Then why not just remove her from the program all together?" asked one of the civilian councilmen.

"Due to recent event, Team Kakashi has been placed on paid vacation for a few weeks to recover. Inoichi is currently monitoring Sakura's condition with regular sessions and by the time he thinks she's fit to resume her duty, then I will reinstate Team Kakashi as an active squad" said Tsunade. "Which leads me to the next thing on the agenda. As you are all aware, Uchiha Sasuke left the village three nights ago to join forces with my former teammate, Orochimaru. A recovery squad consisting of Akimichi Chouji, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Neji, Uzumaki Naruto, and led by Nara Shikamaru was deployed to retrieve Sasuke with backup from Rock Lee and our allies from Suna. That mission has failed and Uchiha is now in league with Orochimaru."

"It's all that Demon's fault. If he hadn't been on the mission, Uchiha-sama would still be here!" declared one of the members. "That Thing should have to pay for the failure of the mission!"

"Councilman Sabantsu, let me make one thing clear…" glared Tsunade towards the councilman who had suggested Naruto's fault. "Uzumaki Naruto did everything he could stop that traitor from leaving the village and how was he repaid? **With a fucking hole in his chest! And don't you dare refer to Uzumaki Naruto as **_**Demon**_** or **_**Thing**_** ever again!"** Tsunade's fist slammed down into the table, shattering it into thousands of splinters and scaring the shit out of the Civilian Council members due to the sheer force of the killing intent focused from the shinobi side of the council (If you don't believe me, just as Inuzkuka Tsume).

"I have analyzed the mission report myself and I find no fault in the actions of all members of the mission. The only reason they failed was because this was a mission that should have warranted jonin or ANBU-level support" explained Shikaku. "In all honesty, we are lucky to have all six talented shinobi alive and set to make a full recovery."

"Then why weren't there any jonin or ANBU on the mission team?" asked one of the council members.

"It's because the team sent to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke was all this village could afford. And actually, the Sound team did encounter a team of jonin-level shinobi" said Tsunade. "The report from Shizune stated that her team was defeated by this Sound-four. The fact that a bunch of 13-14 year old shinobi were able to hold their own against these monsters when a jonin team couldn't certainly is commendable and will be considered during the next round of promotions. Besides, Hatake Kakashi was dispatched as soon as he was available but arrived too late and was forced to choose between saving Uzumaki's life or pursuing Uchiha."

"Then why didn't he pursue?!" demanded one of the council members.

"Because, unlike Uchiha, Uzumaki is a valuable asset to this village and not a traitorous scum!" shouted Tsunade. "I have already marked Uchiha as a traitor and a criminal within our own book."

"But what about the Sharingan?!" shouted one of the members of the Civilian Council.

"There are…other ways" spoke a new voice to the conversation. Tsunade looked over to the advisor's section of the table to see that it was Danzo who had spoke up.

"If Uchiha is unlucky enough to be brought back alive, and trust me I've already made a bet on him being killed." This earned a few laughs from those who knew of Tsunade's luck when gambling. "Then perhaps we can use him to ensure the Sharingan survives, but I could honestly care less what happens to it."

"You can't be serious with following through with this threat? I say we take it to a vote. Whether or not to grant Uchiha-sama amnesty and what to do with the De-Uzumaki" said one of the civilians.

"Are you still suggesting we punish Uzumaki Naruto for whatever it was that he didn't do?" asked an increasingly irritated Tsunade.

"I second that" spoke another civilian. Three more out of the seven Civilian Council members also motioned that, meaning that a vote had to be taken. By the bylaws of Konoha's council, once five or more people seconded a motion, a vote had to be cast.

"I say we start with the Uzumaki. While I think he should be executed, I'm not against banishment" spoke councilman Sanbatsu. "All in favor of a punishment being levered against Uzumaki?"

At this time, only the Civilian Council raised their hand, giving six votes towards punishing Naruto. They would have had seven, but seeing as councilwoman Haruno was not present they were only able to win six at most. As for the call to drop any charges that would be pressed against Naruto, the entire Shinobi Council voted for that, negating the Civilian Council's vote. The Hokage's Council also decided unanimously to drop any such charges, defeating the Civilian Council's motion.

"Very well" growled Sanbatsu. "Now for offering amnesty to Uchiha-sama." Once again, all members of the Civilian Council voted in favor and all members of the Shinobi Council voted against. The Hokage's council however was slightly split with Tsunade voting to keep Sasuke registered as a criminal, and Homaru and Koharu voting to offer amnesty to Sasuke. All eyes fell on the old war hawk.

"Uchiha Sasuke is now in the hands of Orochimaru and as such is a threat to this village" spoke Danzo. "All threats to Konoha should be eliminated. I vote to leave Uchiha marked as a criminal."

"Very well. Uchiha Sasuke will remain listed in the books as a criminal and threat to Konoha" spoke Tsunade. "If there is nothing more important to talk about, then this meeting is adjourned. Inoichi, I need to speak to you in my office."

As Tsunade and Inoichi filed out of the council chamber, the entire civilian side began screaming like the enraged baboons they were.

* * *

"Owch! Why does Tsunade-Baachan have to be so rough?" asked Naruto. It hurt just to sit down at the stool to Ichiraku Ramen and he was really starting to loath those shots he got from the hospital.

"Don't look at it that way Naruto" said Ayame. "I'm sure she's just looking out for you."

"Yeah, tell that to my sore ass, Ayame-neechan" replied Naruto.

"So what brings you here? I haven't seen you in a few days" called out Teuchi. "Although I recall some guy named Shikamaru stopping by yesterday in your name."

"You wouldn't believe it Old Man, it's been a pretty crazy couple of days. First Sasuke-teme deserts the village and I'm on the team that's supposed to drag his sorry ass back…" said Naruto as he told the story revolving around his most recent mission.

"Damn Naruto, you're lucky to even be alive" commented Ayame. "But I'm glad you're safe and back here with us."

"Thanks Ayame-neechan" said Naruto. "But everything's alright because I got a date at the end of all of it! –ttebayo!"

"Oh? A date?" said a voice Naruto recognized from behind.

"Ero-Sennin!"

"Stop calling me that, Gaki!" argued Jiraiya.

"I'll stop calling you that when you stop peeping into hot springs" retorted Naruto.

"Anyways, so who's the lucky lady?" asked Jiraiya.

"Sakura-chan!" chirped Naruto.

"Isn't she your teammate who always keeps hitting you?" questioned Ayame, causing Naruto's head to drop and a pain-filled look to appear in his eyes.

"It wasn't her fault Ayame-neechan" said Naruto. "We were really great friends five years ago until her parents had some sort of memory seal placed on her and then she began to act like an Uchiha-tard. I mean, I don't know what having parents are like, but aren't they supposed to love you for why they are? Not put some sort of stupid seal on you that makes you mean?"

"It's true" spoke Jiraiya. "I checked it over with Tsunade-hime earlier. It seemed like she had an advanced, but forbidden Yamanaka seal placed on her by some mole in that clan. Inoichi's already removed it and the difference between the real Sakura and the fake one is clear, especially when Naruto's involved. I think you would be wise to at least give the girl a fresh chance."

"Awe, Naruto's finally got a date!" squealed Ayame. "So where are you taking her?"

"Well um…I don't really know. I was kind of think about taking here…"

"What?!" shouted all three people around Naruto at that point.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but as good as ramen may be, it's no place for first date" said Teuchi.

"The man's right. Now tell me what she likes and I'll help you set this up" said Jiraiya.

"Well, I know Sakura-chan really likes sushi, but I don't know of any places that serve sushi that will actually let me eat there" said Naruto.

"Actually, I know the owner and chef of one of the best sushi restaurants in town. I think he's starting to like you more after you beat that Neji kid in the chunin exams and saved the village from the Shukaku" said Teuchi. "I'll talk to him tonight and see if he's alright with you. Who knows, perhaps you showing up with a pretty girl might make him open up even more."

"Really? Thanks Pops!" said Naruto.

"No worries, just promise me there'll be plenty of lunch dates here afterwards" laughed Teuchi.

"Dad!" protested Ayame.

"I'm just kidding" replied Teuchi.

"Don't worry Pops, Ichiraku's still the best! –ttebayo!" declared Naruto. "So Ero-Sennin, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about something, but first tell me more about this girlfriend of yours" said Jiraiya with a perverted look on his face.

* * *

"This is troubling news Inoichi" commented Tsunade as she looked over Inoichi's report.

"I am sorry, Hokage-sama, but Fuu cracked a cyanide tablet before I could even take an opportunity to stop him or apprehend him" said Inoichi. "I can assure you though that I will be going through my own clan to see where their loyalties lie."

"Were you able to get anything even after he died?" asked Tsunade, knowing that a skilled mentalist such as Inoichi could still salvage secrets after a person's death.

"That's just it, Hokage-sama. The cyanide capsule triggered a secondary set of reaction, practically melting the subject's brain. I couldn't even get some information out of him even if I tried" replied Inoichi, obviously upset at the events that have unfolded.

"Damn" swore Tsunade. "Any results from the Haruno's?"

"Nothing of importance. They've admitted to having that seal put on her daughter and that it was Fuu who did it, but that's where the trail stops" said Inoichi. "I can't shake this feeling, but I feel like something's missing. I know that Haruno Kizashi and Fuu were acquainted, but I can't find the connection that led to that. It's like the memories are flat out missing."

"I see. I'm assuming you're doing everything you can to try and find a lead further into this case?" asked Tsunade. Inoichi nodded. "Good, and what of their daughter, Sakura?"

"It appears as if Sakura-san went to visit them in their holding cell today and it was obvious she was mad at them for what they did. They said they did it to protect her from…I believe the words were 'from becoming that Demon's whore'" explained Inoichi. The pen that Tsunade had in hand shattered as she just glared at no one in particular. "Honestly, I've known Naruto-san for a few years now. He and Ino have been good friends and I've even done some mental evaluations and I can safely say he's not under any influence of the Kyuubi. But I digress, apparently after their argument, Sakura-san's parents effectively disowned her. But considering the laws of this village she's technically an adult as she is an official shinobi. While my own clan laws prevent her from moving into the clan compound, I was able to give her a rather nice apartment in one of the buildings my clan owns at a highly discounted rate. I do believe that she'll be mission-ready at the end of the four weeks of vacation you've given Team Kakashi. If she got her memories back, then I expect her drive to become a respectable shinobi is back as well from what Ino told me."

"Very well, and thank you Inoichi. From what Kakashi has been telling me, that girl's got potential. It's a shame that seal wasted four years that could have been put to good use instead of fawning over that traitorous Uchiha" said Tsunade.

"Actually Hokage-sama, I wanted to ask you something about that." Tsunade listened into Inoichi's concern. "I know it will be at least three months before the council can bring up his status as a criminal again, but what do you think Danzo meant by 'there are other ways of bringing the Sharingan back to Konoha?'"

"That I honestly don't know" replied Tsunade. _"What are you up to, Danzo?"_

"Is that everything, Hokage-sama?" asked Inoichi.

"For now, thank you Inoichi. And please keep me updated with your investigation" said Tsunade.

"I will." And with that, Inoichi disappeared with a Shunshin.

* * *

"So Ero-Sennin, what was this other thing you wanted to talk to me about?" asked Naruto.

"I just want to make you aware that I am officially making you my apprentice. When I was investigating Orochimaru, I came across information regarding Akatsuki" said Jiraiya. "They won't be after you for at least 4 years from now. I've already talked to Kakashi and we've agreed to spilt your training between the two of us. I'll be pulling you away from time to time to train you personally for a few weeks or even months while you continue your duties to the village."

"Does this mean I'll have to leave Sakura-chan for awhile?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, there will be times where you have to leave her to do your own thing and she will have to do hers, but I promise it won't be for too long_"_ said Jiraiya. _"Although, perhaps I could think about bringing the Gaki's little girlfriend along with us every now and then. If they turn out to be anything remotely close to what Minato and Kushina were like, let's just say I might have enough inspiration for a few books."_

"Well, I guess that won't be too bad, as long as I'm not away from her for like three years or something" said Naruto.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to let you make the same mistake regarding love that I did" said Jiraiya, getting a blush out of Naruto. "I also want to see where you stand regarding Sasuke. Earlier today, he was labeled a traitor and criminal by the council and Tsunade-hime. I just want you to understand that you should forget about any hopes you have of saving him. Sasuke chose Orochimaru and no matter what you do, he won't change his mind."

"I honestly could care less about Sasuke-teme" said Naruto, causing Jiraiya's eyebrow to rise. "The only reason I wanted to get through to Sasuke was to try and get through to Sakura-chan. At one point, I actually thought that perhaps me and Sasuke could be friends, but I see now that he's nothing but a piece of trash who would betray those who tried to help him."

"_I guess he's not as stupid as I thought"_ thought Jiraiya.

"And if this Akatsuki even thinks about putting my friends in danger, I'll make sure I'm strong enough to kick their ass back into line, -ttebayo!" declared Naruto.

"Very well then. I'll be back in about three months after I check a few things out with my spy network and then we can get some real training in. I believe Kakashi also has something special for you as well" said Jiraiya as he handed Naruto a scroll. "This ought to keep you busy until then. There are a bunch of books in there on fuinjutsus. I actually think it's a topic that you'll find a great interest in."

"Fuinjutsu?" asked Naruto with a tilted head.

"Sealing techniques. You can do a lot of things with them if you're good enough" said Jiraiya. "If you need any help with those, Kakashi also has some knowledge on the subject, although not as much as myself. Well, I'm off. See ya, Naruto."

As Naruto returned to his apartment late in the night, he found a note pinned to his door.

_Naruto, _

_Meet at Training Ground 7 tomorrow at 10:00am._

_Kakashi_

A picture of a dog that resembled Pakkun was drawn at the bottom of the note. _"Heh, looks like it's time to get back to training! Ero-Sennin said he's got something good. I wonder if it's anything like this fuinjutsu stuff."_ Naruto had actually lost himself in a book for once. That fuinjutsu stuff Ero-Sennin had given him was not at all what he expected…it was awesome!

* * *

Sakura was practically dancing on her way to meet with Kakashi-sensei and Naruto-kun the next morning. The apartment that Ino's father had given her was awesome with a spacious living-room, comfortable bedroom, and amazing shower (one of the reasons why she was so energetic this morning). She was still slightly depressed that yesterday's meeting with her parents went as it did and they had, for the most part, disowned her, but at the same time, she was finally ready to move forward with her life and if that was something her parents would try to stop, then things were probably better off they way they appeared to be turning out.

As Sakura approached the training ground at 10:00, she saw something she never imagined she's see. _"Is that Naruto…reading a book?"_ she thought, rubbing her eyes to make sure that seal hadn't messed with her vision. Indeed, Naruto was perched atop one of the training posts with a book in hand.

"Naruto-kun!" shouted Sakura, grabbing the blonde's attention.

"Good morning Sakura-chan" chirped Naruto.

"I'd never thought I'd see the day when you pick up a book" said Sakura. "What are they on anyways?"

"Fuinjutsu. Ero-Sennin gave them to me before he said he had to leave for a few months…" Naruto trailed off as he remembered that Jiraiya would periodically be taking him on long trips away from the village. "Look Sakura-chan, Ero-Sennin said he was taking me on as his apprentice apparently and he said that over the next four years, he'd be taking me out of the village to train personally periodically."

"How long are we talking?" asked Sakura.

"Not really sure. He said maybe a couple of weeks to a few months every now and then" replied Naruto.

"I see…" sighed Sakura. She could most likely handle the couple of weeks, but a few months away from her Naruto-kun. Well, she would definitely have to find something to keep her occupied then at the very least, but even then it would be hard.

"It's not that I want to, although the idea of training with Ero-Sennin's pretty cool. He's the one who taught me summoning and the Rasengan" said Naruto. "But I have to."

"Wait, you can summon? You mean like Kakashi summoning Pakkun?" asked Sakura.

Naruto grinned and nodded. "Yeah, watch. Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)." The blonde slammed his hand on the ground and a puff of smoke appeared.

"Yo!" said Gamakichi as he appeared as Naruto's summon. Sakura began freaking out before falling on her behind.

"T-that's a talking frog!" cried Sakura.

"Hey Gamakichi" said Naruto. "Oh Sakura, this is Gamakichi."

"What's up cutie" said Gamakichi, winking at Sakura, causing the pinkette to shiver. A moment later, Gamakichi returned back to Mt. Myoboku and Naruto looked over at his shivering girlfriend.

"Huh? What's the matter, Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto.

"Nothing…Frogs just give me the creeps" admitted Sakura as Naruto apologized.

"…Did I really allow myself to fall that far behind?" asked Sakura, thinking of the past four years. "You can make physical clones, summon frogs, and use that Rasengan jutsu and yet all I know are the basic three academy jutsu."

"What are you talking about Sakura-chan, you're an awesome ninja!" declared Naruto trying to cheer her up. In reality, even he was aware that Sakura was behind as a ninja.

"Don't lie to me. I know I'm probably the weakest out of everyone right now" admitted Sakura.

"Hey, don't feel down. I'm sure Kakashi-sensei's got some amazing jutsu for us" said Naruto. "Now if only he'd show up on time." This earned him a giggle from Sakura. "Look, it's not your fault. What your parents did to you is just disgusting and it really hurt you as a ninja, but you can't let that keep you down. Now that you're back to your old self, you're going to start kicking everyone's ass! After all, you were the one who had us promise to become the best ninja we could be."

Sakura could only help but smile at Naruto's words. That promise to become the best ninja had been the last words she had said to Naruto before the seal had changed her. "Thanks Naruto-kun. You're right, I've been slacking for nearly five years and now it's time to get myself in gear!"

"That's the Sakura-chan I know" said Naruto. "Anyways, we're going to be here awhile most likely so do you want a book? It really is interesting stuff."

Sakura took the book and the two waited for Kakashi-sensei to arrive…two hours later.

"Yo" waved Kakashi, appearing in front of them.

"You're late!"

"Sorry sorry. I would have been here on time, but there was this little old lady and…" Kakashi saw the death glare his two remaining students were giving him. "Anyways, it appears as if we need to talk."

"So you're both aware that we're down one team member" said Kakashi. "If you aren't aware of it, Sasuke's been marked as a traitor and criminal of this village. I just want to see where you both stand on that."

"You told us before that those who break the rules are trash, but those who betray or hurt their comrades are even worse" said Sakura. "As far as I'm concerned, Sasuke betrayed the village making him trash. What sort of person puts a Chidori through their 'friend's' chest?"

Kakashi looked over at his blonde student. "What more is there to say? Sasuke left us for the snake pedophile who killed Jiji and many other comrades. Sakura-chan's right, he's worse than trash."

"I see. At first I had hoped Sasuke would give up on his path towards revenge and I tried to steer him off of it many time. But each time, he seemed to ignore me and continued right on. Up until the moment where he decided to put a Chidori through Naruto's heart, he was still a comrade and even I would have tried my all to save him. But to try and kill a comrade in cold blood is just something that cannot be forgiven. The only reason Naruto's alive is b-" Kakashi shut up, having gotten caught up in his own words and nearly forgetting Sakura didn't know about the Kyuubi.

"It's okay Kakashi-sensei, I already told her" said Naruto.

"You did? I see then. How'd she take it?" asked Kakashi, pointing to Sakura.

"I've known Naruto-kun for years, even if most of them were…yuck. But I know him well enough to know that he's anything but what's sealed inside him" said Sakura, still shivering at the thought of her being an Uchiha-tard.

"I see. Sakura, I heard about what happened from Tsunade-sama and I just want to let you know that I'm sorry that something like that happened to you" said Kakashi. "If you want to take a few days to think about what you want to do, then that's fine and I'll support you on whatever path you chose. So long as it doesn't lead to an assassination-type jutsu through a comrade's chest."

"I already know what I want to do Kakashi-sensei" said Sakura. "The last thing I said before that whole thing with the memory modifications was that I would work to become the best kunoichi I could be. I've wasted four years already and I'm not going to waste any more time."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that we won't be looking for two new members" said Kakashi.

"New members?" asked Naruto and Sakura simultaneously.

"It's as I said before. Ninja work in four-man teams. We only have three, so Tsunade-sama's working hard to find us a new member of the team to replace Sasuke" said Kakashi. "Is that okay with you two?"

"I guess. I mean I think we're actually fine as is, but they can't be _that _bad, can they?" asked Naruto.

"No, probably not" said Kakashi. "Anyways, Tsuande-sama's given us four weeks of paid leave to rest and regroup as a team before we resume normal mission duty. The two of you are free to take D-ranks freely if you're in need of some extra mission work or pay, but other than that we won't be doing any real mission work until we get a new team member and our leave is up. So now the question is what do the two of you want to do?"

"We need to get training, Kakashi-sensei. As Sakura-chan said, we've got no time to waste" said Naruto.

"I see. I'll be honest I haven't been the best teacher, kind of leaving you guys out to hand a bit, but if you are willing to give me a chance, I'll make it up to the two of you" asked Kakashi. " How about this, we meet here every morning at 8:00 and I'll train the two of you until about 12:00 or 1:00. Then I'll leave the two of you to train on your own or do missions if that's what you want. It'll benefit you both to delve deeper into a few select areas of the ninja arts and discover where your interests lie. For example, Sakura you have excellent chakra control which could make you highly adept at genjutsu or medical jutsu."

"Medical jutsu?" asked Sakura with a peaked curiosity.

"Yes. Take Tsunade-sama for example. She's the best there is in terms of medical jutsu and one thing that made her that good was her flawless chakra control" said Kakashi. "In fact, I actually think you would make a great medic some day."

"Really?!" chirped Sakura. _"Tsunade-sama's the world's best medic? Well if she could save Naruto-kun after that injury then she must be pretty amazing. I never want to see Naruto-kun like that again. Alright! I know what I'm going to do!"_

Kakashi looked over at Sakura. _"There's a pretty strong fire burning in her eyes. I wonder if she's thinking what I think she's thinking."_ The one-eyed jonin then turned his attention to Naruto. "Naruto, you've got near endless chakra reserves and stamina, but your education back in the academy was sabotaged because of how the teachers looked at you. Had you have been given a test without genjutsus all over it, you certainly would have passed the normal genin exam. But I suggest you touch up a bit on the very basics, especially that chicken-scratch you call writing."

"What? Why do I need that?" asked Naruto.

"If you hope to be good at sealing, then you need have good calligraphy. I'm sure Iruka-sensei would be more than grateful to help you out there and I hear he's also got some experience in fuinjutsu" said Kakashi.

Naruto sighed, but if it was going to help him with this fuinjutsu stuff, then he'd go ask Iruka-sensei for help. "Alright. Anything else Kakashi-sensei?"

"There is one more thing I want to give you that I'll bring with me tomorrow. It's a jutsu that I think you'll actually be pretty good at, considering you know the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow-clone Jutsu). Oh and that reminds me. Sakura we need to work on increasing your chakra reserves if you ever hope to use that jutsu. I want you to make sure you exhaust your chakra every day before you go to bed. That'll help your smaller reserves out a lot" explained Kakashi.

"Umm Kakashi-sensei, why do you want Sakura-chan to be able to use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" asked Naruto.

"You mean you've never noticed before?" asked a slightly surprised Kakashi. Naruto just looked questioningly at his sensei. "Shadow clones have a special ability that allows them to transfer anything they've learned or experience back to the original, such as any training experiences. Which is why they're excellent for information gathering and spying, but it's also a major drawback of the jutsu. If you have too many clones than the excessive stream of information can lead to severe mental fatigue."

"You're kidding me, right?" asked Naruto. Kakashi shook his head. "So I could have been training super fast had I used shadow clones?! Why didn't anyone tell me?!"

Kakashi merely chuckled at this. "Because we thought you'd figure it out eventually" replied Kakashi. "Anyways, that's why I want Sakura to learn that jutsu as it will help her catch up, but her reserves need to improve for her to even be able to use one or two clones."

Once again, Sakura's 'condition' had held her back to the point where she couldn't even use a simple jutsu because her reserves were too small. Then again, the jutsu was a B-ranked kinjutsu but still.

"Now, how about we call it a day. Wait, there is one thing I want to show you" said Kakashi. He pulled out two sheets of special chakra litmus paper and handed them to Naruto and Sakura. "I'm going to start the two of you on elemental chakra manipulation. Now, allow me to explain. There are five basic elements: fire, wind, water, lightning, and earth. Everyone's chakra is naturally attuned towards a certain nature, making it easier for them to use jutsu of that nature. Each nature has its advantages and disadvantages against the other elements. But first we're going to find out which elements the two of you have."

"How are we going to do that?" asked Sakura.

"With those cards I handed you" said Kakashi as he held one up himself and it crinkled. "Channel chakra into those cards and if it crinkles then your nature is lightning. Wind cuts it in half, fire burns it, water gets it wet, and earth turns it to dust. Now Sakura, you first."

Sakura nodded and channeled some chakra into her paper and watched as it began to turn to dust. "So this means my nature is earth then?" Kakashi nodded.

"Earth's a good style for defensive-type jutsu, but if used right can have some pretty powerful offensive capabilities. It's strong against water, but weak against lightning" explained Kakashi. "Now Naruto, you're next."

Naruto sis the same and watched as his paper split into two.

"Hmm…wind. It's actually kind of rare to have a wind nature in the Land of Fire, but it's a really powerful offensive element. It's strong against lightning, but weak against fire" said Kakashi. "Now, we'll start on chakra nature manipulation tomorrow after some physical conditioning and I'll even give you guys a simple jutsu pertaining to those elements."

With that, Kakashi shunshined away, leaving the two young lovers to themselves.

"Hey Sakura-chan, about that date…" said Naruto as he grew a little nervous. Sakura looked over towards him with interest. "Are you able to go out tonight?"

"Tonight? Sure" she said cheerfully.

"Really?! That's great. How about I pick you up at seven" said Naruto.

"I'm looking forward to it" smiled Sakura. "I'll see you then, Naruto-kun." Sakura couldn't help but smile as she ran off to find Ino and tell her the good news.

* * *

"Okay, what to wear what to wear?" said Naruto out loud as he rummaged through his closet for something other than his bright orange jumpsuit. He also wasn't going to use any of the clothes he had just lying around on the floor. After a few minutes of frantic searching, and making an even bigger mess in his room (if that was even possible), Naruto managed to put together a decent outfit consisting of some blue pants, a white shirt, and a blue jacket which he left open and unzipped.

As he made his way through Konoha in the evening, the city was full of activity with people out and about enjoying each other's company. And he was about to join in on the pleasantries with his own date for the evening, a pretty girl by the name of Haruno Sakura. Honestly, Naruto was afraid this night would never come, even though his hopes held strong. If all went well tonight, Naruto would have to make sure to thank Inoichi-san for removing that seal that had plagues Sakura for so long.

He was really looking forward to tonight and absolutely did not want to ruin it. Teuchi had talked to the owner of the sushi restaurant and the owner said that Naruto was more than welcomed to stop by, which was great seeing as he knew Sakura-chan loved sushi. He truly wanted tonight to go over well. Sakura needed something to get her mind off of everything that had happened and hopefully this would help.

What didn't help was the fact that Naruto was getting more and more nervous every step closer he got to Sakura's apartment. Thankfully, he had gotten the address to her new place before she left the training grounds or else he'd be running around like a chicken with its head cut off (which he wasn't too far from doing already).

As the blonde arrived at the apartment he knocked on the door and was certain he could have heard another voice inside that sounded a lot like Ino's. As the door opened, Sakura was standing in the doorway wearing a white sun dress that went down to her knees and an open red blouse. It wasn't anything formal and it wasn't supposed to be, but Sakura still looked as if she was a princess ready for a ball. Naruto's brain momentarily froze as he eyed the pretty pinkette standing in front of him.

"Naruto-kun" Sakura chirped as she smiled warmly at him.

"Wow, you look really pretty tonight, Sakura-chan" mumbled Naruto, causing Sakura to blush a little.

"Thanks, and you clean up rather nice as well. I'm actually surprised you're not wearing anything orange" replied Sakura. "So, shall we get going?"

Naruto could only manage a bob of his head, his brain still not functioning right as Sakura stepped out of the apartment, grabbing Naruto's hand on the way out and closing the door.

"You two have fun tonight!" called out Ino's voice from inside. _I really need to find a boyfriend."_

"So Ichiraku, right?" asked Sakura.

"Actually, I had some place different in mind" said Naruto as he finally took the lead and led Sakura to the sushi restaurant that Teuchi had told him about. "Here we are!"

Sakura stopped and Naruto saw her eyes wince in pain slightly. "Sakura-chan, is something wrong?"

"No, I just used to come here with my parents every now and then" said Sakura.

"Oh…I'm sorry Sakura-chan, I didn't know" apologized Naruto, hoping to salvage the apparent train wreck. "We can find somewhere else if you want."

"No. Actually, I'm kind of glad we came here. This is my favorite place and I can now have some good memories here with you" the pinkette said sweetly as she took Naruto inside and they found a seat at one of the sushi bars.

Minutes later, the chef had prepared their orders and Naruto and Sakura already had their food. _"It all looks so tasty"_ thought Naruto. _"Where do I start?"_

"Here" said Sakura as Naruto turned to look at his date. She was holding her chopsticks with a piece of sushi in them. "Open up." Naruto's eyes widened. Was Sakura actually feeding him? Naruto opened his mouth and Sakura plopped the piece of food in there. The flavors tingled his tongue. The sushi was actually really good, maybe not Ichiraku ramen good, but it was still incredible.

"Wow! This is really good!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Now see, isn't it nice to have something besides ramen every now and then?" teased Sakura.

It was now Naruto's turn as he grabbed a piece from their plates and watched as Sakura happily ate it in one bite and Naruto could only help but stare in awe at the way his pink-haired date was acting. _"I can't believe this is actually Sakura-chan. She seems so happy and warm. If that seal had never been placed on her, was this what she would have been like in the academy? Would all of those times I asked her out have been like this?"_

"Huh? Is everything okay, Naruto-kun?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah…everything's fine Sakura-chan" replied Naruto. _"For once, everything is just fine."_

"You know, I kind of wished we weren't going to be getting a new teammate. I wouldn't mind being on a team with just you" chirped Sakura. "I guess that is one thing I'm actually glad about is somehow we ended up on the same team."

"So what do you think this new person will be like?" asked Naruto.

"Hard to tell really. I'd be nice if it was someone we knew, but I doubt that'll happen" said Sakura. "For the most part, I don't really care that much. There's you and me so no matter whom it is we should be alright. Ooo…try this, Naruto-kun."

Naruto tried the piece that Sakura handed him and cringed at the extremely bitter taste as Sakura couldn't help but giggle. "I guess you don't like that one. I really don't either. Here, this one's a lot less harsh on your taste buds."

As Sakura momentarily turned back to her own food, Naruto caught the glimpse of a certain smile that had shown on her face. It was the same smile he saw back in the academy after pulling a prank on Sasuke-teme that involved a honey and feathers and made Sasuke look more like a chicken than a kid. He had pulled that prank only a few days into the academy, trying to make Sakura see just exactly what a loser Sasuke was. He was right, and she saw it. Not the Sakura that worshipped the ground that Sasuke walked on, but this Sakura. It was only on her face for a second before she 'snapped back to reality' and clobbered him, but it was enough to tell him that his Sakura-chan was still in there and it was enough to tell him that she was trying to resist against whatever was making her act the way she was. It was that smile that was her true smile, and it was the most beautiful thing about her.

As their meal finished, Naruto gladly paid for the best time he had ever had with Sakura. Despite what most people thought, Naruto actually had quite a bit of money now, thanks to his incredible dumb luck and Tsunade-baachan teaching him how to play a few casino games while he and Ero-Sennin were tracking her down. They stepped out of the restaurant and into the warm evening air of the late summer and it suddenly hit Naruto that there was one of Konoha's larger festivals coming up in just a little over a month and he would want nothing more than to take Sakura to the festival. But the focus was still on their current date as even though the sun had set nearly an hour ago, the night was still young.

Not far down the street was an ice cream shop, a perfect cool treat for a warm summer night like tonight. And because it was such a warm night, business there had been crazy and by the time Naruto and Sakura got to the front of the line, the shop was down to its last bowl, unfortunately (depending on how you look at it.

From around a corner, a certain blonde kunoichi smiled at the couple that was now walking away from the ice cream stand with one bowl and tow spoons stuck in the single mound of ice cream it contained. _"Yes, that worked perfectly!"_ cheered the blonde as she looked to her other side at the large boy with swirl markings on his cheek happily downing a couple dozen bowls of ice cream.

"Oh man, I need some place to sit down" commented Sakura. "I haven't ate this much since I got the stupid idea to go on a diet."

"I think I know where we can go" said Naruto, getting an idea in his head as he led the way for the blossoming young couple.

"Wow! I've never actually been up here. It's really an amazing view" gasped Sakura as the pair came to a stop atop the Hokage Monument.

"I'd always come here whenever I just needed some peace and quiet" said Naruto. "I don't know why, but it's like I've always felt connected up here."

Naruto took a seat with Sakura sitting directly next to him, a lot closer than she would have ever dared to do so during the past four years. The close proximity actually caused their hands to brush up against one another as the both blushed and pulled away out of reflex.

For minutes, the two just sat there in silence. But it wasn't an awkward silence. No, this was a pleasant, peaceful silence with the warm summer breeze blowing across Sakura and then onto Naruto.

"_Mmm…Sakura-chan sure smells pretty"_ thought the blonde as he took a whiff of the vibrant fragrances coming off Sakura and being carried to Naruto's nose by the wind.

Naruto tilted his head back slightly, looking up at the stars that were starting to appear in the night sky and opening his airway to allow more of Sakura's pleasant fragrance in, only to see a streak of light shoot across the night sky.

"So what'd you wish for?" asked Sakura, catching Naruto's attention and causing the blonde to turn his head and look directly into her emerald eyes with his own sapphires. _"Actually, I think I know."_ "Close your eyes, Naruto-kun."

Doing so, Naruto closed his eyes, wondering what Sakura wanted. There was a few seconds of nothing and Naruto was about to reopen his eyes to see what Sakura wanted, but then he felt something warm and soft press against his own lips and when he cracked an eye to see what it was, he could hardly believe the sight…Sakura was kissing him.

A few seconds later, Sakura pulled away and smiled. "No this isn't a dream" she said sweetly before rearranging herself so that she was lying with her back against Naruto in his lap. Naruto laid back as well, forcing Sakura to rearrange herself so that her head was resting against his chest.

"You know, I could fall asleep like this…" yawned Naruto. And that was exactly what the new couple did; falling asleep in one another's arms on top of the Hokage Monument.

* * *

In some chamber in the foundations of Konoha,

"_Fuu was a valuable asset to the organization and his attempts to sway the jinchuriki to my side are commendable. It was a pitty that he was caught, but he did the appropriate thing in the end_" thought Danzo as he walked out on a bridge towards a pale boy with a shirt that cut off just above his stomach, who had some sort of creepy smile on his face. "As you are aware, Uchiha Sasuke has left the village and is now considered a threat. This plays in my favor seeing as there is a vacant position on the jinchuriki's team. I have arranged so that you will be placed on that Team Kakashi and you will act as my eyes and ears regarding the jinchuriki. You're stronger than anyone in your generation in the village, and more than anything, your artistic mind is simply amazing. From today on, your name will be Sai and it will be your mission to report all the jinchuriki's activities to me."

"I am called Sai" spoke the pale boy.

* * *

_**Author Notes**_

**So, quite a few notes that I'm going to use to clarify a few ways in which I'll be handling the story.**

**Before I get started with the essay of notes, ****PLEASE REVIEW!**

**A/N (regarding the council): In this story, the Konoha Supreme Council is made up of three portions: The Civilian Council, the Shinobi Council, and the Hokage's Council. The power divided between them is 33% for the CC, 33% for the SC, and 33% for the HC. The CC has 7 representatives on it to match the number of shinobi clan heads on the SC (Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Inuzuka, Aburame, Hyuga, Kurama). The HC is composed of four members (Tsunade, Homaru, Koharu, Danzo). Each member of the SC and CC has a 4.7% control in the rulings of the council and each member of the HC has an 8.2% control. Also, as Hokage, Tsunade does have some other powers that the council cannot contest and may be mentioned further on in the story. I know this isn't how the council works in cannon, but it's how I am handling the council in this story. For the most part, the SC accepts Naruto while the CC still sees him as the Kyuubi.**

**A/N: So, Naruto and Sakura have begun to get serious in their training and Kakashi has decided to act as a better sensei and actually teach them. I won't be using the story to explain the elements of the other members of the Konoha 11, but here is what their elements are: Naruto(wind), Sakura(earth), Kiba(fire), Shino(earth), Hinata(water), Ino(water), Chouji(earth), Shikamaru(fire), Neji(earth), Tenten(lightning). Will they be using elemental jutsu? Probably not for awhile at least, but this is just for reference. **

**A/N: I am also handling Jiraiya's apprenticing of Naruto differently and I am also making it at least 4 years until Akatsuki comes after Naruto. Jiraiya won't be taking Naruto away for three years in a row, but will rather be taking the blonde on shorter trips (kind of like the Tsunade rescue trip). I won't go into too much detail, unless I think something about it is important, and some of these trips (especially the later ones) may include Sakura as well, in which case there may be some NaruSaku moments that I cover (Jiraiya pulls out his notebook and Tsunade sends the pervert flying).**

**A/N: You may think Sakura's being a little harsh on her parents, but honestly they kind of do deserve it after what they did to her. As she said, she still does love them because they are her parents, but she can't forgive them for what they did to her. **

**A/N: For the most part, this story is in the anime universe (not just the manga). I will also be including some version of some movies as well as some of the filler arc. The Land of Snow movie has already occurred before Sasuke left so that did happen. I sadly won't be doing the Stone of Gelel, but I will be doing the third movie in some fashion (Crescent Moon Kingdom). As for which movies I'll include from the Shippuden, I still have yet to fully decide.**

**Well that's it for now. Next time on ****A Sealed Memory****…The Konoha 11 react to Naruto and Sakura's relationship and what happened to Sakura being sealed. Also, Team Kakashi kicks into full gear and their new teammate makes an appearance (you can probably guess who). Finally, the four weeks of vacation come to an end and Team Kakashi is reinstated as active again, starting off their first real mission in over a month.**

**Once again, ****PLEASE REVIEW****. Don't make me ask again…Okay, you asked for it: PLEASE REVIEW.**


	3. Catching Up

**Well, here's the 3****rd**** chapter to ****A Sealed Memory****. **

**A/N: Seeing as I am using Japanese names for jutsus, if there is a non-cannon jutsus (meaning I most likely can't find the Japanese name on Narutopedia), I'll most likely use Google Translate to do the translation. Hopefully this isn't too bad and doesn't upset too many people.**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, still don't own Naruto.

Posted: 4/30/13

* * *

**Chapter 3: Catching Up**

Today was a day for the record books. Hatake Kakashi, renowned throughout Konoha as being notoriously late to just about everything not A-rank or above, arrived at Training Ground 7 at 8:00am sharp, the same time he had arranged for his own team to meet. However, when he got there, he was the only one waiting.

"You know, it's not polite to leave someone waiting" said Kakashi before departed the training grounds to go search for his AWOL team. A few quick checks at both Naruto's and Sakura's apartments revealed that neither of them were there. Kakashi sent a clone back to the training ground to dispel and notify him if either of them showed up, but was soon notified when another clone dispelled, providing him with the location of his mission team as he dashed to where they were.

A few moments later, Kakashi arrived on top of the head of the Yondaime Hokage to see Naruto resting back against one of the stone spikes that was the Yondaime's hair with Sakura resting back against him and Naruto's arms wrapped around her waist. "You know, I've been wondering what was going to happen between those two ever since that seal was removed" said Kakashi quietly. His question had just been answered. "It seems like they've been here all night. Oh well…"

"Sution: Shitsureina Mezame no Jutsu (Water-style: Rude Awakening Jutsu)" called out Kakashi as he dowsed the newly formed couple with a blast of freezing water.

Their reactions were priceless, even if Sakura almost took off his head with a punch. Naruto was now perched on the very tip of one of the Yondaime's spikes with his back arched and body shaking like a cat that had just gotten dumped into a pool of water.

"What the hell was that for Kakashi-sensei?!" yelled Sakura. Despite it being on a large piece of stone, that was probably the most comfortable night of sleep both Naruto and Sakura had had in a long time.

"You two are aware its rude for me to actually be on time and everyone else to be late" chuckled Kakashi. "But seeing as how comfortable you two were together, I'll let it slide this once. Go get ready and meet at the training grounds in an hour."

With that, Kakashi shunshined away, leaving the blonde and pinkette on top of the rock head. "Naruto-kun, did we really sleep through the night up here?" asked Sakura.

"I don't remember going home, so yeah I think so. Why?" replied Naruto.

"Nothing was just wondering. It was actually one of the best nights I've had in a long time, so thank you for that" said Sakura. "Well, I'm going to go and get ready for the day, perhaps we can get some ramen latter tonight if you want?"

"That sounds great Sakura-chan. I'll see you in a little bit" waved Naruto before they went their separate directions to their own apartments, which coincidentally weren't that far away from each other. Hell, Naruto could actually see Sakura's apartment from his balcony and was now wondering if Ino had a hand in it. She probably did.

* * *

An hour later, both genin appeared at Training Ground 7 with their usually-late sensei following closely behind.

"So Sensei, does this mean you're not going to be late from now on?" asked Sakura.

"It's as you said, enough time's already been wasted" said Kakashi. "I'll be here at 8 this month, I do promise you that."

"So Kakashi-sensei, any word on who our new teammate is?" asked Naruto.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, and I asked not to be given a new member for at least another three weeks. We'll work on your individual skills now and then we'll bring in the new member and take a week to get the three of you working together." Kakashi pulled out a few scrolls and handed them to his students. "Those are the jutsu scrolls I promised you. You can work on them in the afternoons as most of our time will be spent working on your guys taijutsu, physical conditioning, chakra control, and I'll be teaching you guys some elemental manipulation that will help with your jutsu. If you need any help with them, just ask me and I can stay around to help you guys a little."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei" chirped both Naruto and Sakura.

"Now, those jutsu you have. Sakura, yours is Doton: Doryuheki (Earth-style: Mud Wall). It's one of the more basic jutsus that creates a wall out of earth. Despite being one of the more basic ones, it's got considerable defensive abilities and seeing as you have a good brain in that head of yours, I believe it will prove effective in strategically maneuvering and cornering your opponents" said Kakashi. "I also picked up one more I felt you would be good at and I picked it out just for you. It's a genjutsu known as Ninpo: Sakura Fubuki (Ninja Art: Cherry Blossom Blizzard). It's a genjutsu that shrouds your movements in what appears to be a mass of swirling cherry blossoms, and can easily create an opening for you to strike."

"It's perfect for you Sakura-chan" commented Naruto, seeing exactly why Kakashi had chosen it for Sakura.

"Naruto, you've got a wind jutsu by the name of Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind-style: Great Breakthrough). It's an offensive wind jutsu that is basically a massive gust of wind, but if given enough power, that gust of wind can even uproot large trees" said Kakashi. "Your other one is one I picked especially for you, considering you already know it's parent jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. The Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu) is a heavily offensive jutsu that creates up to hundreds of shadow clones of projectiles. It can be highly effective and deadly if you can learn to time it correctly."

"Awesome! I'll have this down in no time and then I'll be kicking everyone's ass! –ttebayo!" declared Naruto.

"Naruto, you should know that jutsu is an A-rank jutsu that was invented by the Sandaime. I'm sure that is one technique he would have wanted you to have" said Kakashi, giving Naruto an eye smile.

"Now, how about some warm-up exercises. I want 100 laps around the training ground" said Kakashi.

"What?!" shouted Naruto and Sakura. "You can't be serious, Kakashi-sensei!"

"I am. If the two of you are so dedicated on improving, then you'll have to push yourselves harder and harder each day. In fact, I've got something that will help you" said Kakashi as he threw down a pair of weighted bands. "Training weights. They're not as bulky as the ones Lee wears, thanks to the seals on them, but they will help to drastically improve your own speed and stamina."

Naruto and Sakura thought back to the preliminaries and how fast Lee was moving against Gaara. That kind of speed was nothing short of amazing and the two realized that Kakashi was right. They would have to use whatever there was to help them improve.

"I also want to say that I've met with the other jonin and we've all decided that we're going to be entering you in the next chunin exams" announced Kakashi.

"Really? When are those?" asked Sakura.

"The chunin exams in Iwa just finished, so the next ones will be five months from now, held in Suna" said Kakashi.

"Wait, so why didn't you enter us in the Iwa exams?" asked Naruto with a questioning look.

"It's because the relationship between Iwa and Konoha has been rather tense ever since the Third Shinobi War" said Kakashi. _"And because their hatred towards sensei would most certainly lead them to target Naruto." _"Seeing as Suna is an ally and we've worked out the whole invasion deal, that would probably be the best exams for the two of you to be promoted in, unless you want to wait another 2 years for them to return to Konoha. Unlike last time, I'm actually aiming for you guys to do very well, and I think if you work hard over these next few months, then there's no doubt in my mind you'd be ready for the rank of chunin."

"What do you mean you're actually hoping for us to do well this time? Does that mean you didn't believe in us last time?" asked a questioning Naruto.

"Oh look at the time, you two better get running if you want time to work on those jutsu" said Kakashi, completely avoiding the subject.

Once they stopped running, Kakashi had the two spar each other while he evaluated their taijutsu. Naruto had been backed up to against one of the training posts and ducked underneath one of Sakura's punches as it hit the log, leaving a huge dent and causing the pinkette to wince at how hard she had almost hit Naruto there. Seeing the reaction of his girlfriend, Naruto spoke.

"Sakura-chan, it's okay. You're not trying to hit me to get me out of your face because I'm 'annoying', you're trying to hit me so that we both get better. Believe me when I say I can take one of your hits and I don't care. If it will help us both improve and we're sparring, then I don't care what you do" said Naruto.

"But still…" said Sakura.

"No 'but's. You can't hold back Sakura-chan! It's the only way we're going to get stronger" said Naruto. "If you hit me and we're training or I've done something to deserve it, then I'm fine with that. You're not the Sakura who used to hit me needlessly back in the academy, you're the Sakura-chan that promised to get stronger with me many years ago! Now don't hold back and hit me!"

"_Naruto's right. As much as I don't want to, he's right. I can't hold back and we both Need to improve"_ thought Sakura as she regained her composure and the two were back to sparring. That is until Naruto took a fist to the gut, sending him flying back into a tree, with Sakura running after him.

"See, I told you I could take a punch" coughed Naruto.

"You're still such a baka" replied Sakura as she helped him up and hugged just grinned at this as Kakashi hopped down from his observation point in the tree.

"Now that the domestic issues at home are settled and you two are past the beat each other senseless phase and onto the make-up phase, how about we go over what I saw" said Kakashi, getting a blush out of the two.

"Sakura, you still use the academy style, which is fine…if you just graduated this past month. Your taijutsu's not going to go any further with just the academy style" said Kakashi. "You already have superior chakra control that is even on par with many medical ninja, and you've managed to figure out how to use that control to greatly increase your own strength. But that in itself does not flow well with what you're trying to do with your chakra control."

Sakura sighed. Once again, her seal-induced fan-girlism had hindered her own growth. But wait, wasn't it the jonin sensei's job to help them branch out from the academy style? Before she had a chance to say anything, Kakashi had already begun pointing out the faults in Naruto's style.

"Naruto, you on the other hand really don't have a taijutsu style. At best, it's very brawler-ish. You also use your clones a lot which could actually prove useful if you can find and adapt an actually style to using them" commented Kakashi. "Hmm…okay I think I see. Starting tomorrow, I'll work one-on-one with each of you, improving your taijutsu while the other one works on chakra control and manipulation exercises."

The morning proceeded with the duo moving to a few basic chakra control exercises, which involved a combination of the basic tree climbing and water walking with Kakashi adding a few extra elements to the mix. It didn't help Sakura's control much, seeing as her chakra control as already highly advanced, but it did get her to use her chakra coils more which would help with her overall chakra reserves. She still only had genin level reserves and Kakashi felt that she would need at least mid-chunin level to even be able to make just two or three shadow clones. Kakashi figured that if he really pushed her reserves over this month that there was a chance she could be there and ready to learn that jutsu by then, even if the jutsu required jonin-level chakra reserves. Her control would be able to eliminate the chakra normally wasted and she would probably be able to get away with mid-chunin level reserves.

For Naruto, more chakra was the last thing he needed and the exercises were already showing to improve his control as it had been ever since Naruto had learned them. Still, he had a long way to go to get his chakra control to the point where it should be.

Elemental manipulation exercises consisted of leaf cutting for Naruto and compressing a handful of dirt into a compact sphere for Sakura. Naruto already had about 50 clones running through the leaf exercise and Kakashi was confident the blonde would have the first step down in a few weeks rather than the six months that it should normally take him. Sakura was different in that her superior control was proving to be a huge asset. Add that to the fact that earth was one of the easier elements to learn, he figured it wouldn't be too long before she had the first nature manipulation exercise down. Once that happened, they would be able to start on their elemental jutsu.

Finally, the morning came to an end and both genin could feel the effects of a real workout throughout their entire bodies. Having a near endless amount of energy, Naruto was already making a recovery, but Sakura was another story. Kakashi had driven her to the point of near chakra exhaustion with the chakra exercises and the pinkette found herself unable to pick herself off the ground.

"Naruto-kun, I don't think…" said Sakura, in-between heavy breaths. "…I don't think I can get up."

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei's workout was actually hard today" commented Naruto, helping Sakura to her uneasy feet. Sakura took a slight step forward, only for her legs to give out and she fell forward, only to land on Naruto's back as he began carrying her away from the training ground and off to get some lunch, Sakura resting her chin on Naruto's shoulder and the side of her head against Naruto's head.

The two came to a tea and dango shop to get lunch and were about to go in until Naruto suddenly turned and walked away at a frantic pace. "Naruto-kun, why didn't you go in there? I thought this was where we were going to go for lunch?"

"Can't talk, gotta get away from…" Naruto stopped dead in his tracks a cold steel sliced against the cheek that Sakura was not resting against and warm red blood began to trickle down his cheek.

"And where do you think you're going, huh?" called out the familiar voice of Mitarashi Anko. Before Naruto could do anything, Anko's head was over his other shoulder, licking the trickle of blood coming from the cut on Naruto's cheek. "Oh and who's this?" Anko said pointing over at Sakura. "What's the matter? Isn't Anko good enough for you?"

"Anko, leave them alone."

"Hmph, do you really have to ruin my fun Inoichi?" called out Anki, eyeing the mentalist.

"If you want fun, there's a pair of foreign ninja that we caught spying today in holding cell 2" called out Inoichi.

"Sorry kiddies, but some worthless scum's awaiting. Now don't have too much fun while I'm gone" laughed Anko as she shunshined back to the T&I holding facility.

"I tell you, that creepy snake lady's weird" commented Naruto.

"Yeah, she gives me the creeps" replied Sakura. "Anyways, thanks for your help, Inoichi-san."

"Don't worry about Anko. She doesn't bite, so long as you don't get her to riled up…on second thought, yeah you'd better watch out for her" said Inoichi.

After their lunch at the now Anko-free teahouse, the pair had to part their separate ways. Naruto had to find Iruka-sensei and get help on that sealing stuff, while Sakura said that there was something she still had to do yet, assuring Naruto that she'd tell him about it over ramen that night.

* * *

For Tsunade, today was a good day. Today was one of those days where there wasn't much paperwork besides the daily mission reports and the Godaime Hokage was able to kick back a little. As Tsunade took a sip of her tea, there was a knock on her door. "Come it!" As the door opened, a young girl Tsunade recognized as Haruno Sakura stepped through. To Tsunade, she looked rather beaten and dirty. _"Looks like Kakashi has finally picked up the training on her and the Gaki."_ "What is it?"

"Tsunade-sama, I need to become stronger so I can be there for my friends and my team when they need me, which is why I'm asking you to please…make me your apprentice!" begged Sakura.

"_That look in her eyes, she's not kidding around anymore. She's got a strong spirit, it's a shame that seal held her back from realizing her true potential earlier, but there is still hope for her. The Gaki mentioned that she used to be driven back before the Academy and from what Kakashi said, she was still driven even while under the effects of the seal, most likely her way of resisting its influences"_ thought Tsunade. _"She's troubled as well. She doesn't want to lose him again."_

"Haruno Sakura, I've heard about your intelligence and potential from Kakashi. And it's good to see that your drive is back in gear. Very well, I'll make you my apprentice, but realize that I won't go easy on you. If this is truly what you want, then I'll drill everything I know into your head and then some, shaping you into the best medical ninja you can be" spoke Tsunade.

"I understand, I won't disappoint you, Tsunade-sama, or should I say Tsunade-shisho" addressed Sakura. _"I can't let you down, I can't let Naruto-kun down, and most importantly I can't let myself down anymore!"_

"Good. You are to meet me every day after your training with your team and Kakashi" said Tsunade as she stood up and walked over to her book shelf. "But first, I'll start you off with a little light reading. Let's see, there's anatomy…physiology…botany…biology…"

"_This is what she calls light reading?" _gulped Sakura as Tsunade piled about a dozen thick textbooks into her arms. Yeah, those shadow clones Kakashi was talking about when her chakra reserves increased were definitely going to help.

* * *

Classes for the day had just been let out at the Academy and Iruka was sitting at his desk looking over the day's quizzes. "Iruka-sensei!" shouted an orange blur as it barreled through the door.

"Naruto?" asked Iruka in question. "What are you doing here? I thought you were never coming back here again and the only way I'd find you is if I came to Ichiraku?"

"I actually have a favor to ask you" said Naruto. "You see, Ero-Sennin gave me these books on fuinjutsu and I…"

"Let me guess, your writing could use some work" said Iruka, getting a nod out of Naruto. "You know, you really shouldn't have skipped classes then."

"Even if I didn't would the teachers really have helped me out? I mean, none of them paid any attention to me until you came along, and that was only for the last year-and-a-half of the academy" said Naruto, causing Iruka to sigh.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Alright, I'll help you out" said Iruka as he and Naruto took a seat at one of the desks and Iruka proceeded to give his favorite ex-student remedial writing lessons.

* * *

It had been just over two weeks since the Sasuke Retrieval Squad had returned from their failed mission, Naruto had nearly died at the hands of the traitorous Uchiha, and a certain seal placed on one Haruno Sakura had finally cracked, returning the happy memories of a childhood friendship and crush that she had with a certain foxy blonde boy while also revealing the painful betrayal by her own parents.

It had been two weeks since Konoha's newest couple had their first date and their relationship was already off to a great start. It had also been around that time since their jonin sensei had kicked their training into full gear and then some, driving the couple to the point of exhaustion in the morning while they parted ways for the afternoon to work on their own skills.

Kakashi's normal training regimen consisted of a physical workout that left Sakura barely crawling back to the finish line. Naruto, who had bundles of energy, was more sore than just plain exhausted as Kakashi had been focusing more on his physical strength, agility, and reflexes. Still, despite the boot camp-like regimen, Naruto and Sakura were already starting to feel the benefits. For Sakura, the constant strain that her underwhelming chakra coils were experiencing had caused them to grow at a rate that even Kakashi was surprised by. After just two weeks, they had gone from low-genin to high-genin, something that usually takes months to do. One theory Kakashi had was that Tsunade, Sakura's newest teacher, was assisting in the recovery process or even showing Sakura some techniques to help grow them even more. If this kept up, then she might actually be at the point where Kakashi would consider teaching her the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu in order to help her catch up in some areas of jutsu knowledge. As for Naruto, Kakashi noticed the great improvement on the blonde's own physical coordination and agility. He also noticed an increase in Naruto's chakra control and had just recently asked Naruto to work on perfecting the chakra manipulation of his strongest technique, the Rasengan. Of course one thing that greatly helped Naruto in improving his own chakra control was the use of his shadow clones, which he would normally use a few dozen every time to work on basic chakra exercises. Kakashi felt that if Naruto kept going at this pace, he'd be able to perform a one-handed Rasengan by the end of the month.

The other element to Kakashi's training was the two jutsus he had given them. Both of them had already gotten one of their jutsus completed, Sakura completing her Sakura Fubuki genjutsu and Naruto completing his Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu amd were progressing rather rapidly on their elemental manipulation to the point where Kakashi figured that they'd have the first step of their elemental manipulation exercises down. While they had not quite mastered their jutsus, they had done much more than Kakashi had expected in learning them in a matter of a few weeks, along with all the other stuff that was piled on top of them.

Sakura had personally asked Tsuande herself to become an apprenticed medical ninja, something that Kakashi was glad she had deciding on. The first week had consisted primarily of Tsunade shoving as much knowledge of medicine and the human body as possible into Sakura's head, which was something that the pink-haired genin picked up on rather fast, surprising even Tsunade. If there was one thing Tsunade was glad that hadn't been held back by that mental seal, it was Sakura's intelligence. That intelligence of the girl's had already prompted Tsunade to begin the process of fine tuning Sakura's already advanced chakra control to perfect chakra control, something that was an absolute must to be a medical ninja.

Naruto's extra training was a bit different in that he had asked his former Academy sensei for some remedial handwriting lessons in order to be able to make effective seals. By the end of two weeks, it wasn't perfect, but it was a drastic improvement to the point where Naruto could actually start to make some basic seals without too much difficulty. Iruka had quickly realized that Naruto had knack for fuinjutsus when the blonde began to try making his first few seals. To Iruka's amazement, they worked better than most seals the scar-faced chunin had seen. Iruka had been the first person to realize that Naruto wasn't the 'dobe' that a lot of people saw him as and he figured that if someone had only encouraged him earlier or actually offered the blonde some help, that Naruto could have easily been near the top of the class.

Even though the past two weeks were long and harsh for the genin couple, Naruto and Sakura usually found some time of the day to spend together, or should I say evening. Most of the time, their dates involved simply meeting for dinner or going for an evening walk, but to them they were spending time with one another, something that they both felt that they were four years behind on. If anyone couldn't believe their relationship was actually happening, it was Naruto. After years of having his advances brutally rejected, the blonde was still slightly dumbfounded by just how open Sakura was being with him. Of course, he knew the reason behind Sakura's real personality being suppressed was because of that seal, but to him, this was practically a dream, one he didn't want to wake up from.

* * *

To both Naruto and Sakura's delight, this was one day that they had been given completely off as kind of a reward for their hard work. Still, this didn't mean that their work was completely done. Rumors had been spreading amongst the members of the Konoha 11 and Naruto, Sakura, and Ino found that it would be best to tell the group as a whole the entire story behind Sakura's sealed past.

As it stood, Sakura had just finished explaining to everyone gathered at Training Ground 11 the story of the past four years. How she had met Naruto as a young girl, how they quickly became friends, how Ino was soon included into their little group, Sakura's parents unhappy with Sakura's new friend and them having her memories sealed and then the point of Naruto returning from the Sasuke Retrieval mission, in a state of near-death, triggering Sakura's sealed emotions to break free of the influence of the seal.

To everyone there, it sounded like some silly excuse to explain just why Sakura had been beating on Naruto for the past five years, yet with Ino backing her up and a few of the other members of the Konoha 11 recalling the reasons why their parents were so pissed off at the Haruno's, they quickly realized that it was no story. The story ended with the entire Konoha 11 left speechless, with Shikamaru being the first one to speak.

"And I thought mothers were controlling, but even this is pushing it, troublesome" said the lazy chunin, recalling own mother. From a few people, this earned a little laugh.

"So you're telling me the reason Sakura here obsessed over Sasuke and beat on Naruto all four years of the academy was because of a stupid seal?" asked Kiba.

"This wasn't just a stupid seal, Dog-Boy" replied Ino. "My family had it forbidden for reasons. It was a powerful memory alteration seal that suppressed whatever part of the individual's personality the one applying the seal desired, in this case any memory of Naruto, and imposed a new personality, the Sasuke-fawning, Naruto beating fangirl. From what I understand, while it's possible to resist to some extent, the seal will only break when the person who was sealed experiences some kind of extreme emotional trauma, such as Naruto coming into the hospital with a hole in his chest. That's why Sakura fell into a coma, because her own personality was fighting against the imposed personality."

"So then the Sakura that we have now is the non-fangirl Sakura?" asked Chouji.

"Right, and please don't mention anything regarding that other me. It's disgusting to even that I could like that stuck-up bastard" said Sakura.

"So Naruto, why'd you do it?" asked Kiba, earning a look from Naruto. "I saw the way she treated you back in the academy and even I would have just given up on her then and there."

"It's because I knew that Sakura back in the academy wasn't the real Sakura. She was honestly the first friend I had and I wasn't about to lose her that easily. I knew something was wrong with her and I wasn't going to stop until I found out what it was and saved her" said Naruto. "I mean, think about it if that was Akamaru, wouldn't you do anything and put up with any punishment just to get him back?"

"Are you comparing me to a dog, Naruto?" glared Sakura.

"N-no no, Sakura-chan. I'm just saying that the bond Kiba and Akamaru has is as strong as the one I feel we have and that's why I would do anything to save it" said Naruto.

"You know, I think I understand" said Kiba.

Overall, the reactions of the Konoha 11 were ones of accepting and forgiveness towards Sakura. They had understood that the seal was controlling her personality and with a little convincing from Naruto and Ino that even when influenced Sakura was trying to resist the seal, they held nothing regarding her actions over her. And then came the announcement that Sakura and Naruto were in a relationship…

"Naruto-kun, you are truly a rival in youthful love for winning the fair heart of Sakura!" said Lee with tears streaming down his eyes. "But I shall double, no triple my efforts to win over Sakura-san's heart for hopes that she will one day be mine!" Naruto sweat dropped at this, and so did just about everyone else.

Lee wasn't the only one who wasn't fully accepting of the fact that Naruto and Sakura were now in a relationship. Yes, that's right, Hyuga Hinata, the one who had admired Naruto since the early years of the academy was also shaken by this revelation. The young Hyuga was desperately wishing that was her that Naruto was calling his girlfriend. However, she knew what Naruto and Ino were referring to the day back at the hospital, with regards to the seal on Sakura breaking.

Still, it didn't help the current situation. Naruto was now officially in a relationship with Sakura, although he hadn't put a ring on her finger yet, but that most likely wasn't going to be happening to any girl in the Konoha 11 for a quite a few years yet.

Despite the fact that Sakura had just taken HER Naruto, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the pinkette as the seal that had been placed on and controlling Sakura was, in a sense, the same thing her clan was doing to her 'brother', Neji. While the concept of hatred was all but foreign to the sweet and innocent Hinata, there was one thing she could honestly say she hated and that was using seals to control people or force them into some form of servitude.

Hinata thought back to the pre-academy days, when Naruto, Sakura, and Ino would normally just hang out together. She knew THAT Sakura had actually cared for Naruto, but the Sakura that came to the academy was a completely different story. In just the time span of a night, Sakura had gone from someone Hinata actually had respected for actually being there for Naruto and someone she would have liked to gotten to know better, to the brutish Naruto-murdering monster that appeared at the Academy on the first day. It did serve to comfort her a little that if the Sakura there was the pre-Academy Sakura, then Naruto had another person who truly did care for him.

At the clearing, Kiba looked over to his left to see his one female teammate tart to slink back away from the group. He could tell that she was depressed by the revelation that Naruto and Sakura were now in a full-blown relationship and he felt he needed to do something or else any shred of confidence she had gained since they were placed on a team together would be gone. He heard a whimper come from the top of his head.

"I know boy, I know" said Kiba, comforting his small canine partner. As people began to leave to go and take care of their own things, Kiba approached Naruto who was now talking to Sakura.

"Oi, Naruto" called out Kiba. "Look, I was wondering if I could ask you to do something for me…"

"I know, you want me to talk to Hinata, don't you?" asked Naruto.

"So you knew?" asked Kiba.

"Did you really think I was THAT oblivious?" replied Naruto. Before Kiba was about to reply, Naruto responded. "Don't answer that. Yeah, I knew she's been crushing on me and it honestly makes me glad that there is someone else out there who cares for me, but my heart's always belonged to Sakura-chan…"

"Aww…" aww-ed Sakura.

"I mean, yes Hinata's nice and everything, but I've never been able to look at her the same way she looks at me. Besides, I know her clan would never accept me for one reason or another" said Naruto. "I'll talk with her and see if I can get her to move on, don't worry. Who knows, maybe she'll find someone who cares for her much more than I ever could." Naruto sent a knowing look at Kiba.

"Thanks, Naruto" replied Kiba.

"No problems" said Naruto as Kiba and Akamaru left to go do whatever Kiba and Akamaru did.

"Sakura-chan, I'm sorry but I'm going to go talk with Hinata. I'll meet up with you for ramen later?" asked Naruto.

"Definitely. I'll see you later." Sakura gave Naruto a quick peck before running off to go and do Sakura-stuff.

* * *

A depressed Hinata Hyuga was slowly making her way back to her home. Despite all her own attempts to swallow the fact that Naruto had been taken, she still couldn't manage to pull her out of her depression. The only one she knew who would be able to so that was…

"Hey, Hinata!"

Hinata's head shot up at the voice that was calling her name and she turned around to a blonde and orange figure running towards her. "N-naruto-k-kun? W-what a-are you d-doing here?"

"Look, I just figured that I should at least say thank you for believing in me all these past years" said Naruto.

"Y-you d-d-on't n-need to do t-that" stuttered Hinata.

"No, I do. You were one of only a few people who did believe in me back then and for that I can't thank you enough, which is why I at least owe you an explanation as to why I chose Sakura-chan" said Naruto. "You've heard the story already, so you know that it wasn't her fault and I'll be honest that there were points in the Academy where I honestly was about ready to give up and just accept that she was completely lost to Teme, but every time I was about to, I saw something in her that showed me that she was resisting that seal, whether it be a slight smile at one of my pranks or a punch that she didn't hit me with. It was moments like those that I knew deep down, that the Sakura-chan I knew was still in there somewhere and I wasn't about to give her up" said Naruto. "She was the first person, besides Jiji, who even acknowledged me, who put in the effort to get to know me. That's why I wasn't going to give up on her."

"I-I k-know. T-that's w-what makes you y-you" said Hinata.

"I am hoping you can understand that I do think of you as one of my close friends, but I am afraid that's all I see you as" said Naruto.

"I-I s-see" said Hinata, lowering her head.

"But know this, you're strong and I know it" said Naruto, regaining Hinata's attention. "You don't need me, you've never needed me. You've just gotta believe in yourself and I know you'll be surprised at just who you really are."

"Do you…D-do you really t-think so?" asked Hinata.

"Trust me, I know so" said Naruto. "Again, thank you for believing in me and I hope you can understand."

"I do" said Hinata without a stutter this time. "And thank you Naruto-kun. If you ever need something I'll be here for you."

With that, Naruto departed, leaving the Huyga heiress to herself…and the dog-ninja walking down the street towards her.

"Hey Hinata, you going to be okay?" asked a concerned Kiba.

"K-kiba-kun?" said a startled Hinata, not expecting Kiba to be there. "Yes, I-I'm be just f-fine. T-thank you, Kiba-kun."

Kiba smiled as a warm smile appeared on Hinata's face and Akamaru let out a joyful 'arf'.

* * *

"So how'd it go?" asked Sakura, sitting next to Naruto enjoying an evening bowl of ramen with her blonde boyfriend.

"I think she'll be okay. I saw Kiba walking towards her as I left and I trust Kiba to be there for her" said Naruto.

"Still, I can't actually believe we're trying to hook Dog-breath with Hinata" replied Ino, who had also joined her two best friends for dinner and was sitting on Naruto's other side.

"Well yeah, but even I know Kiba has a little crush on Hinata and he's not as bad as some people make him out to be" replied Naruto.

"He still smells like wet dog though, but I will admit. Those two could make for almost as cute a couple as you two" added Ino. "So anyways, how have things been going with you guys? I haven't really seen you around since you two apparently kicked your training into high gear."

Sakura cringed at the pain filled weeks of training with Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade-shisho. "Harsh, but I honestly feel as if I'm getting stronger. Kakashi-sensei's taught me a nice genjutsu and he's got us working on another jutsu."

"Man, I wish Asuma-sensei would teach us some cool jutsus or something. But I had to be stuck with the laziest person in this village and all Chouji ever thinks about is food. It doesn't help that Asuma-sensei's rather laid back as well" sighed Ino. "I mean we actually do make a good team, but I just wish Asuma-sensei would teach us some more things besides using our clan techniques."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find something. After all, you don't want to be falling behind me now do ya? Ino-pig?" teased Sakura.

"What?! Me behind you? As if, Forehead" replied Ino.

"After all this training with Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade-shisho, I'm sure I could beat you now if we had a little rematch" bragged Sakura.

"Keep dreaming…keep dreaming" waved Ino.

Poor Naruto was trying to enjoy his ramen, but found himself in the middle of Ino and Sakura's argument.

"You know, I always wanted a rivalry with you, I just didn't want it to be over a stupid boy" said Ino.

"Yeah I'll agree with you there" replied Sakura. "Tell you what. Kakashi-sensei mentioned the chunin exams in a few months. How about we promise to train as hard as we can and we'll settle this for real in the next chunin exams?"

"Heh, you're on Sakura!" accepted Ino. "But wait, what sort of guarantee is there that we'll meet?"

"Ya know, I'd hate to take a page from Neji's book, but I'll let it slide this once. It has been fated" said Naruto in a monotonous, Neji-like voice, causing Sakura and Ino to burst out laughing at Naruto's impersonation of the Hyuga genius.

* * *

The Hyuga compound,

"Achoo!"

"N-neji-niisan, are you okay?" asked Hinata.

* * *

"I am, thank you Hinata-sama. I get the feeling thought that someone is talking about me" replied Neji.

Another week had passed, making it three weeks since Team 7 had been given their vacation. Today was the day that Team Kakashi was supposed to get its new third member and both Naruto and Sakura had been speculating on what this new person was going to be like.

As Naruto and Sakura approached Training Ground 7, the couple was ambushed by a trio of lion-like beasts, charging straight towards them. "Doton: Doryuheki!" Called out Sakura as she slammed her hands into the ground to create an earthen barrier using the technique she had just managed to get down a few days ago. The beasts couldn't stop themselves and instead ran into the wall, splattering and covering the wall with…ink?

"What the hell were those?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know…Up there!" shouted Sakura, pointing to a tree branch where a pale boy with black hair and a short jacket that only covered the upper half of his torso.

"Right, I got him. Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" shouted Naruto, making a dozen of himself and charging the pale attacker.

"Ninpo: Choju Giga" called out the attacker as he made a few brush strokes on the scroll he had in front of him. As he said his jutsu, more of those lion-beasts emerged from the scroll and engaged the clones. As Naruto's clones were fighting off the lions, Naruto drew a kunai and made his way towards the attacker.

As Naruto swung with his kunai, the pale boy pulled the tanto from his back and used it to block Naruto's attack. "Who the hell are you?!" demanded Naruto.

"You're fairly weak aren't you" stated the attacker. "Do you have any balls at all?"

"WHAT?!" shouted a flustered Naruto. Sakura caught what Sai had just said and began to blush at the mention of Naruto's…manhood.

As the pale attacker and Naruto jumped back away from each other to ready for another attack, an explosion of smoke went off between them, their one-eyed jonin sensei standing between them.

"Yo!" waved Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei quick, this guy just attacked us out of the blue!" shouted Naruto.

"Ah, I see you've already met" commented Kakashi.

"No time to talk, we've gotta capture him and hand him over to the T&I squad and wait…what do you mean by already met?" asked Naruto.

"Naruto, Sakura, this is Sai. He's going to be the newest member of our squad" said Kakashi, jesturing to Sai.

"Hello" said Sai with a kind of creepy smile on his face.

"You can't be serious" whispered Naruto to Sakura as they both sighed.

"_Well, I see this is certainly going to be an interesting time"_ thought Kakashi. "Well, let's get started shall we? We've got one week left before you're cleared for active missions again and I think we could all use some teamwork exercises to get better acquainted with one another."

* * *

_**Jutsu**_

**Ninpo: Sakura Fubuki (c-rank):**** A lower level genjutsu that makes the victim appear as if they are surrounded by a blizzard of cherry blossoms, disguising the attacker's movements and allowing an opening to be created for them to strike**

* * *

_**Author Notes**_

**Well, there's the third chapter. I know it's slightly on the shorter side, but it's within the range I like my chapters (7-10k words). This concludes the introduction to this story and I'll be starting on the first mission arc here in the next chapter. I know this chapter breezed through a month's time rather quickly, but in all honesty it was mainly just a lot of training with Naruto and Sakura trying to get to the level where they should be at. Also, Sakura has begun apprenticeship under Tsunade and Naruto can make some simple seals at this point. **

**Now that Sakura's starting to catch up, the idea that she was sealed will bear a bit less of a weight on her, but that wound will never quite heal for some time. **

**Other than that, nothing really too special with this chapter except for the small introduction of Sai.**

**Let me know how this story's started off. Please REVIEW! (Don't make me have Akamaru lick you to death…or worse).**


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